WONDERS OF THE HEAVENS, 



CAMILLE FLAMMARION. 



FROM THE FRENCH BY MRS. NORMAN LOGKYER 




NEW YORK: 

SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG, & CO. 

1874. 






transfhb 

1>. O. PUBLIC LIB&AjfiT 
SEPT. 10. 19*0 



I 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK I. 

I. NIGHT 

II. THE HEAVENS .... 

III. INFINITE SPACE 

IV. GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE UNIVEBSE 

V. CLUSTERS AND NEBULA - • 

VI. THE MILKY WAY . . 



PAO« 

3 

9 

16 
10 
29 
43 



BOOK II. 

I. THE SIDEREAL WORLD . .... 55 

II. THE NORTHERN CONSTELLATIONS ... 67 

III. THE ZODIAC 74 

IV. SOUTHERN CONSTELLATIONS .... 89 

V. THE NUMBER OF THE STARS THEIR DISTANCES . 101 

VI. VARIABLE STARS TEMPORARY STARS STARS 

SUDDENLY VISIBLE OR INVISIBLE . . .113 

VII. DISTANT UNIVERSES DOUBLE MULTIPLE, AND 

COLOURED SUNS . .... 120 



BOOK III. 



I. THE PLANETARY SYSTEM 
II. THE SUN . 

in. the sun (continued) 



133 

140 
150 



Contents. 





PAGE 


IV. 


MERCURY 158 


V. 


VENDS 














162 


VI. 


MARS 














168 


VII. 


JUPITER . 














173 


VJII. 


SATURN . 














177 


IX. 


URANUS . 














186 


X. 


NEPTUNE 














190 


XI. 


COMETS . 














195 


XII. 


comets {continued) 












204 






B 


OOK 


IV. 











I. THE TERRESTRIAL GLOBE 

II. PROOFS THAT THE EARTH IS ROUND THAT IT 

TURNS ON AN AXIS, AND REVOLVES ROUND THE 
SUN . ...... 

III. THE MOON ..... 

iv. the moon {continued) ..... 

V. ECLIPSES 



215 



223 
237 
246 
259 



BOOK V. 



I. THE PLURALITY OF INHABITED WORLDS 
II. THE CONTEMPLATION OF THE HEAVENS 



273 
282 



SOOK L 




NIGHT. 

* O nuit ! que ton langage est sublime pour moi, 
Lorsque, seul et pensif, aussi calme que toi, 
Contemplant les soleils dont ta robe est paree, 
J'erre et medite en paix sous ton ombre sacree ! ' 

De Fontanes. 

O Night, how sublime is thy language to me! ... . 
Where are the souls to whom the spectacle of starry night 
is not an eloquent discourse ? Where are those who have 
not been sometimes arretted in the jresence of the bright 
worlds which hover -v* •"* onr h*e**is, a id who have not sought 
for the key of the great enigma of creation ? The solitary 
hours of night are in truth the most beautiful of all our hours, 
those in which we have the faculty of placing ourselves in 
intimate communication with great and holy Nature. Far 
from spreading a veil over the universe, as is sometimes said, 
they only efface those which the sun produces in the atmo- 
sphere. The orb of day conceals from us the splendours of 
the firmament ; it is during the night that the panoramas of 
the sky are open to us. 'At the hour of midnight, the 
heavenly vault is strewn with stars, like isles of light in the 
midst of an ocean extending over our heads. Who can con- 
template them and bring back his looks to the earth without 
feeling sad regrets, and without longing for wings in order 
to take flight and be blended with them, or be lost amidst 
their immortal light ?* 

In the midst of darkness our eyes gaze freely on the sky, 
piercing the deep azure of the apparent vault, above which 



4 Marvels of the Heavens. 

the stars shine. They traverse the white constellated regions, 
visiting distant regions of space, where the most brilliant 
stars lose their brightness by distance ; they go beyond this 
unexplored expanse, and mount still higher, as far as those 
faint nebulae whose diffused brightness seems to mark the 
limits of the visible. In this immense passage of sight thought 
with rapid wings accompanies the forerunning visual ray, 
carried away by its flight and wonderingly contemplating 
these distant splendours. The purity of the heavenly pros- 
pect awakens that eternal predisposition to melancholy which 
dwells in the depths of our souls, and soon the spectacle ab- 
sorbs us in a vague and indefinable reverie. It is then that 
thousands of questions spring up in our minds, and that a 
thousand points of interrogation rise to our sight. The 
problem of creation is a great problem ! The science of the 
stars is an immense science; its mission is to embrace the 
universality of created things ! At the remembrance of these 
impressions, does it not appear that the man who does not feel 
any sentiment of admiration before the picture of the starry 
splendour, is not yet worthy of receiving on his brow the 
crown of intelligence ? 

Night is, in truth, the hour of solitude, in which the con- 
templative soul is regenerated in the universal peace. We 
become ourselves ; we are separated from the factitious life of 
the world, and placed in the closest communion with nature 
and with truth. A poetess, Madame de Girardin, has de- 
scribed these impressions with an exquisite touch : — 

' Voici l'heure oil tombe le voile 
Qui, le jour, cache mes ennuis : 
Mon cceur a la premiere etoile 
S'ouvre comme une fleur de nuit. 

On nage, on plane dans l'espace, 
Par l'esprit du soir emporte ; 
On n'est plus qu'une ombre qui passe, 
Une ame dans l'immensite. 



Night. * 

D'un monde trompeur rien ne reste : 

Ni chaine, ni loi, ni douleur ; 

Et Fame, papillon celeste, 

Sans crime peut choisir sa fleur. 

nuit ! pour moi brillante et sombre, 
Je trouve tout dans ta beaute ; 
Tu reunis l'etoile et 1'ombre, 
Le mystere et la verite.' 

Edward Young, he who, in Newton's language, gave 
us ' Night Thoughts,' was sometimes exalted to magnificent 
thought in his hymns : — 

4 Majestic Night ! 
Nature's great ancestor ! Day's elder-born 
And fated to survive the transient sun ! 
By mortals and immortals seen with awe ! 
A starry crown thy raven brow adorns ; 
An azure zone, thy waist ; clouds in heaven's loom 
Wrought through varieties of shape and shade, 
In ample folds of drapery divine, 
Thy flowing mantle form, and, heaven throughout, 
Voluminously pour thy pompous train. 
Thy gloomy grandeurs (Nature's most august, 
Inspiring aspect !) claim a grateful verse ; 
And like a sable curtain starr'd with gold, 
Drawn o'er my labours pass'd, shall close the scene. 

And what, man ! so worthy to be sung ? 
What more prepares us for the songs of heaven ? 
Creation of archangels is the theme ! 
What to be sung so needful ? What so well 
Celestial joys prepares us to sustain ? 

• e o o * 

Glance thy thought, and think of more than man. 

e e . « © * 

This gorgeous apparatus, this display, 
This ostentation of creative power. 



6 Marvels of the Heavens, 

This theatre, — what eye can take it in? 

By what dhine enchantment was it raised, 

For minds of this first magnitude to launch 

In endless speculation and adore ? 

One seen by day, by night ten thousand shine ; 

And light us deep into the Deity ! 

How boundless in magnificence and might ! 

what a confluence of ethereal fires, 

From urns unnumber'd, down the steep of heaven, 

Streams to a point, and centres in my sight ! 

Nor tarries there ; I feel it at my heart. 

My heart, at once, it humbles and exalts ; 

Lays it in dust and calls us to the skies. 

o o e e o 

let me gaze ! . . . . 
let me think ! Thought too is wilder'd here ; 
In midway flight Imagination tires ; 
Yet soon reprunes her wing to soar anew, 
Her point unable to forbear or gain ; 
So great the pleasure, so profound the plan ! 

e e e e e 

Now go, Ambition ! boast thy boundless might 
In conquest o'er the tenth part of a grain.' 

Of all the sciences, Astronomy is the one which can 
enlighten us best on our relative value, and make us under- 
stand the relation which connects the Earth with the rest 
of creation. Without it, as the history of past centuries 
testifies, it is impossible for us to know where we are or who 
we are, or to establish an instructive comparison between the 
place which we occupy in space and the whole of the universe : 
without it we should be both ignorant of the actual extent of 
our country, its nature, and the order to which it belongs 
Enclosed in the dark meshes of ignorance, we cannot form the 
slightest idea of the general arrangement of the world; a 
thick fog covers the narrow horizon which contains us, and 
our mind remains incapable of soaring above the daily 



Night. 7 

theatre of life, and of going beyond the narrow sphere traced 
by the limits of the action of our senses. On the other hand, 
when the torch of the Science of the Worlds enlightens us, the 
scene changes, the vapours which darkened the horizon fade 
away, our mistaken eyes contemplate in the serenity of a 
pure sky the immense work of the Creator. The Earth 
appears like a globe poised under our steps ; thousands of 
similar globes are rocked in ether; the world enlarges in 
proportion as the power of our examination increases, and 
from that time universal creation developes itself before us in 
its reality, establishing both our rank and our relation with 
the numerous similar worlds which constitute the universe. 

It is at night that this spectacle must be demanded — it 
is night which must be invoked in concert with the sacred 
bards whose lyre is worthy to sing its greatness : — 

* nuit ! deroulez en silence 
Les pages du livre des cieux ; 
Astres, gravitez en cadence 
Dans vos sentiers liarmonieux ; 
Durant ces heures solennelles, 
Aquilons, repliez vos ailes ; 
Terre, assoupissez vos echos ; 
Etend tes vagues sur les plages, 
iner! et berce les imager, 
Du Dieu qui t'a donne tes flots.'° 

The silence and profound peace of a starry night present 
an appropriate scene to our contemplative faculty, and no 
time is more propitious to the elevation of the soul towards 
the beauties of the heavens. But the poetry of the sight of 
these appearances will be soon surpassed by the magnificence 
of the reality. And it is on this point that we must first 
insist, in order to get rid of all delusions caused by the 
senses. It seems to me right to remove the causes of error 
which may leave false impressions on our minds ; it is com- 

* Lamartine. 



8 Marvels of the Heavens, 

pletely useless, if not dangerous, to devote the first part of an 
astronomical discourse to describing apparent phenomena, 
which will afterwards have to be proved false. Let us not 
follow this troublesome road; let us keep away from the 
ordinary path, and begin, on the contrary, by raising the 
veil, in order to allow the reality to shine. Poetry, whose 
harmonious breath has just hushed our suspended souls, will 
not vanish on that account ; it will rather regain a fresh 
aspect and new life, and, above all, a greater energy. Fiction 
can never be superior to truth ; the latter is a source of 
inspiration to us, richer and more fruitful than the former. 



II. 



THE HEAVENS. 



* Oh ! depuis cette terre ou rampent les mortels, 
De l'espace fuyant les vides eternels, 
Qui sondera des cieux l'insondable distance, 
Quand apres l'infini, l'infini recommence ! ' 

The shade which spreads over the hemisphere in the absence 
of the Sun, from its setting to its 
rising, is only a partial phenome- 
non, circumscribed by the Earth, 
and in which the remainder of the 
universe does not participate. 
When we are enveloped in the 
calm silence of profound night, we 
are inclined to extend the scene 
which surrounds us to the entire 
universe, as if our world were the 
centre and pivot of creation. A few 
moments' reflection will suffice to 
prove how great this illusion is, 
and to prepare us for the concep- 
tion of the whole world. It is, 
indeed, evident that the Sun cannot 
illuminate all sides of the same 
object at once, but only those 
which are turned towards it, only 
lighting up half the terrestrial 
globe at one time ; hence it fol- 
lows that night is nothing more than the state of the 




Fig. 1. — Night and Day. 



10 Marvels of the Heavens, 

non-luminous part. If we imagine the terrestrial globe 
suspended in space, we shall understand that the side turned 
towards the Sun is alone illuminated, whilst the opposite 
hemisphere remains in shadow, and that this shadow pre- 
sents the aspect of a cone. Moreover, as the Earth turns 
on itself, all its portions are presented successively to the 
Sun and pass successively into this shadow, and it is this 
which constitutes the succession of day and night in every 
country of the world. This simple coup d'ceil suffices to 
show that the phenomenon to which we give the name of 
night belongs really to the Earth, and that the heavens and 
the rest of the universe are independent of it. 

This is the reason why, if at any hour of the night we let 
our minds soar above the terrestrial surface, it will follow 
that, far from remaining always in the night, we shall again 
find the Sun pouring forth his floods of light through space. 
If we carry ourselves away as far as one of the planets which, 
like the Earth, revolves in the region of space where we are, 
we shall understand that the night of the Earth does not 
extend to those other worlds, and that the period which 
with us is consecrated to repose does not extend its influence 
there. When all beings are buried in the stillness of silent 
night here-— above, the forces of nature continue the exercise 
of their brilliant functions — the Sun shines, life radiates, 
movement is not suspended, and the reign of light pursues its 
dominant action in the heavens (as on the opposite hemi- 
sphere to ours), at the same hour when sleep overcomes all 
beings on the hemisphere we inhabit. 

It is important that we should know, first of all, how to 
habituate ourselves to this idea of the isolation of the Earth in 
space, and to believe that all the phenomena which we 
observe upon this globe are peculiar to it and foreign to the 
rest of the universe. Thousands and thousands of similar 
globes revolve like it in space. I do not now prove the truth 
of my assertions, but my readers will not doubt them, and 
will be willing to take my word, reminding me later to 



The Heavens. 11 

justify all that I shall have stated. Moreover, I promise 
them to do this as soon as possible ; but I shall ask their 
permission to develope at once, in outline, a general idea of 
the universe. 

One of the most fatal delusions which it is important we 
should get rid of at once, is that which presents the Earth as 
the lower half of the universe, and the heavens as its upper 
half. There is nothing in the world more false than this. The 
heavens and the Earth are not two separate creations, as we 
have had repeated to us thousands and thousands of times. 
They are only one. The Earth is in the heavens. The 
heavens are infinite space, indefinite expanse, a void without 
limits ; no frontier circumscribes them, they have neither 
beginning nor end, neither top nor bottom, right nor left : 
there is an infinity of spaces which succeed each other in 
every direction. The Earth is a little material globe, placed 
in this space without support of any kind, like a bullet which 
sustains itself alone in the air, like the little captive balloons 
which rise and float in the atmosphere when the thin cord 
which retains them is cut. The Earth is a star in the heavens; 
it forms part of them; it, in company with a great many 
other globes similar to it, peoples them ; it is isolated in them ; 
and all these other globes also float isolated in space. This 
conception of the universe is not only very important, but it 
is also a truth which it is absolutely necessary should be well 
fixed in the mind, otherwise three-quarters of the astro- 
nomical discoveries would remain incomprehensible. Here, 
then, is this first point well understood and thoroughly 
established in our thoughts. The heavens surround us on 
every side. In this space the Earth is a globe suspended ; 
but the Earth is not alone in space. All those stars which 
sparkle in the heavens are isolated globes, suns shining by 
their own light ; they are very distant from us ; but there are 
stars nearer which resemble much more the one we inhabit, 
in the sense that they are not suns, but dark earths receiving, 
like ours, light from our Sun. These world*? called ' planets ' 



12 Marvels of the Heavens. 

are grouped in a family ; ours is one member of this family. 
At the centre of this group shines our Sun, a source of light 
which illuminates it, and of heat which warms it. Floating 
in the bosom of the space which surrounds it on every side, 
this group is like a fleet of many boats rocked in the ocean 
of the heavens. 

A multitude of suns, surrounded like ours with a family 
of which they are the foci and the light-givers, float likewise 
in all parts of the expanse. These suns are the stars with 
which the fields of heaven are scattered. In spite of the ap- 
pearance caused by perspective, immense spaces separate all 
these systems from ours, spaces so great that the highest 
figures of our great numeration can scarcely number the 
smallest amongst them. A distance that our figures can 
scarcely express also separates these stars from each other, 
extending from depths unto depths. 

Notwithstanding these prodigious intervals, these suns 
are in number so considerable that their numeration as yet 
exceeds all our means; millions joined to millions are in- 
adequate to enumerate the multitude ! . . . . Let the mind 
try if it is possible to represent to itself at one time this con- 
siderable number of systems and the distances which separate 
them one from the other! Confused and soon humbled at 
the aspect of this infinite richness, it will only learn to admire 
in silence this indescribable wonder. Continually rising on 
the other side of the heavens, going beyond the distant shores 
of this ocean without limits, it will endlessly discover fresh 
new space, and new worlds will reveal themselves to our 
eagerness; heavens will succeed to heavens, spheres to 
spheres ; after deserts of expanse will open other deserts, 
after immensities other immensities ; and even when carried 
away without rest, during centuries, with the rapidity of 
thought, the soul would continue its flight beyond the most 
inaccessible limits that imagination could conceive, — there 
even the infinite of an unexplored expanse would remain still 
open before it; the infinite of space would oppose itself to 



The Heavens. 1 3 

the infinite of time ; endlessly rivalling, without our ever 
being able to take away from the other : and the spirit will 
be arrested, overcome with fatigue, at the entrance of infinite 
creation, as if it had not advanced a single step in space. 
Imagination suspends its flight and is stopped humbled. 

' Ye stars ! bright legions that, before all time, 

Camped on yon plain of sapphire, what shall tell 

Your burning myriads but the eye of Him 

Who bade through heaven your golden chariots wheel ? 

Yet who, earth-born, can see your hosts, nor feel 

Immortal impulses — eternity ? 

What wonder if the o'erwrought soul should reel 

With its own weight of thought, and the wild eye 

See fate within your tracks of deepest glory lie ? ' ° 

The immensity of the heavens has been sung on many 
lyres ; but how can the song of man express such a reality ? 
Poets have tried to render it in verse, when one feels the 
insufneiencv of speech to note the immense thoughts which 
this wonderful contemplation developes in us. 

Had I not reason for stating, as I did, that reality is 
superior to fiction, even from the point of view of poetical 
sentiments, — and that the contemplation of actual nature 
encloses a richer and more fruitful source of inspiration than 
the illusions of the spectacle offered by our senses ? Instead 
of an immense night stretching itself to the azure vaults, 
instead of a robe worked with gold embroideries, or a veil 
covered with brilliant ornaments, we are in the bosom of life 
and universal brightness. Night is but an accident, a happy 
accident, which enables our looks to extend themselves ' 
beyond the limits which the day marks for us ; we are like a 
^aveller reclining in the shadow of a hill, who contemplates 
the illuminated landscape which is unfolded as far as the 
distant horizon. Instead of the immobility of dead silence, 

* Croly, The Stars. 



14 Marvels of the Heavens* 

we are present at the spectacle of life on worlds. With 
the light of truth the arbitrary vaults disappear and heaven 
opens its depths to us ; the infinite of creation is revealed 
with the infinite of space, and our Earth, losing the prepon- 
derance which our pretensions had accorded to it, gives 
way under our feet and disappears in the shade, losing itselt 
in the midst of a multitude of similar little worlds. In 
the freedom of our flight we go beyond the solar regions 
and take our first sketch of the universe. It is thus that, 
disabusing ourselves of the first step of the ancient error 
too long established by appearances, we place ourselves in 
good condition for study, and prepare ourselves to receive 
easily the fresh truths which nature will reveal to us. 

Allow me, in concluding this chapter, to relate an episode 
worthy of being more known than it has yet been, because it 
shows how much more power the real world has, than the 
empire of fiction. It is taken from the life of the great 
mathematician, Euler, and it was Arago himself who related 
it to the Chambre des Deputes at the meeting of the 23rd 
of March, 1837. 

' Euler, the great Euler, was very pious ; one of his friends, 
a minister of one of the Berlin churches, came to him one day 
and said, " Religion is lost, faith has no longer any basis, the 
heart is no longer moved, even by the sight of the beauties, — the 
wonders of creation. Can you believe it ? I have represented 
this creation as everything that is beautiful, poetical, and 
wonderful ; I have quoted ancient philosophers and the Bible 
itself; half the audience did not listen to me, the other half 
went to sleep or left the church." 

'"Make the experiments which Truth points out to you," 
replied Euler. "Instead of giving the description of the world 
from Greek philosophers or the Bible, take the astronomical 
world, unveil the world such as astronomical research has con- 
stituted it. In the sermon which has been so little attended t*:, 
you have probably, according to Anaxagoras, made the Suu 
equal to the Peloponnesus. Very well! say to your audience 



The Heavens. 15 

that, according to exact incontestable measurements, our Sun is 
1,200,000 times larger than the Earth. 

'" You have, doubtless, spoken of the fixed crystal heavens ; 
say that they do not exist, that comets break through them ; 
in your explanations planets were only distinguished from stars 
by movement ; tell them they are worlds, that Jupiter is 1400 
times larger than the Earth, and Saturn 900 times ; describe the 
wonders of the ring; speak e f the multiple moons of these 
distant worlds. 

4 "Arriving at the stars, their distances, do not state miles; 
the numbers will be too great, they will not appreciate them ; 
take as a scale the velocity of light ; say that it travels 186,000 
miles per second ; afterwards, add that there is no star whose 
light reaches us under three years ; that there are some of them 
with respect to which no special means of observation has been 
used, and whose light does not reach us under thirty years. 

4 " On passing from certain results to those which have only 
great probability, show that, according to all appearance, 
certain stars could be visible several millions of years alter 
having been destroyed ; for the light which is emitted by 
them takes many millions of years to traverse the space which 
separates them from the Earth." 

' Such was, gentlemen, shortened, and only with few modifi- 
cations in figures, the counsel given by Euler. The advice 
was followed ; instead of the world of fable, the minister presented 
the world of science. Euler waited for his friend with im- 
patience. He arrived at last, with dull eye and in a manner 
which appeared to indicate despair. The geometer, very 
astonished, cried out, "What has happened?" 

4 " Ah ! Monsieur Euler," replied the minister, " I am very 
unhappy ; they have forgotten the respect which they owed to 
the sacred temple, they have applauded me." ' 

The scientific world was a hundred orbits greater than 
the world which the most ardent imaginations had dreamt of. 
There was a thousand times more poetry in the reality than 
In the fable. 



16 Marvels oj the Heavens. 



III. 

INFINITE SPACE. 

' lasense, je croyais embrasser d'un coup d'oeil 
Ces deserts ou Newton, sur l'aile du genie 
Planait, tenant en main le compas d Uranie. 
Je voulais reveler quels sublimes accords 
Promenent dans lather tous les celestes corps ; 
Mais devant eux s'abime et s'eteint ma pensee.' 

Boucher. 

There are truths before which human thought feels itself 
humiliated and perplexed,, which it contemplates with fear, 
and without the power to face them, although it understands 
their existence and necessity : such are those of the infinity of 
space and eternity of duration. Impossible to define, for all 
definition could only darken the first idea which is in us, 
these truths command and rule us. To try and explain 
them would be a barren hope ; it suffices to keep them before 
our attention in order that they may reveal to us, at every 
instant, the immensity of their value. A thousand definitions 
have been given, we will however neither quote nor recall one 
of them. But we wish to open space before us and employ 
ourselves there, in trying to penetrate its depth. The velocity 
of a cannon-ball from the mouth of the cannon makes swift 
way, 437 yards per second. But this would be still too 
slow for our journey through space, as our velocity would 
scarcely be 900 miles an hour. This is too little. In 
nature there are movements incomparably more rapid, 
for instance, the velocity of light. This velocity is 186,000 



Infinite Space. 17 

miles per second. This will do better; thus we will take 
this means of transport. Allow me then, by a figure of 
speech, to tell you that we will place ourselves on a ray of 
light and be carried away on its rapid course. 

Taking the Earth as our starting-point, we will go in a 
straight line to any point of the heavens. We start. At 
the end of the first second, we have already traversed 186,000 
miles , at the end of the second, 372,000. We continue. 
Ten seconds, a minute, ten minutes have elapsed, — 
111,600,000 miles have been passed. Passing, during an 
hour, a day, a week, without ever slackening our pace, — 
during whole months, and even a year, the time which 
we have traversed is already so long, that expressed in 
miles, the number of measurement exceeds our faculty of 
comprehension, and indicates nothing to our mind : they 
would be trillions, and millions of millions. But we will 
not interrupt our flight. Carried on without stopping by 
this same rapidity of 186,000 miles each second, let us 
penetrate the expanse in a straight line for whole years, fifty 
years, even a century .... Where are we ? For a long 
time we have gone beyond the last starry regions which are 
seen from the Earth, the last that the telescope has visited ; 
for a long time we travel in other regions, unknown and 
unexplored. No mind is capable of following the road 
passed over; thousands of millions joined to thousands of 
millions express nothing : at the sight of this prodigious 
expanse the imagination is arrested, humbled. Well ! this 
is the wonderful point of the problem : we have not ad- 
vanced a single step in space. We are no nearer a limit 
than if we had remained in the same place ; we should be 
able again to begin the same course starting from the point 
where we are, and add to our voyage a voyage of the same 
extent ; we should be able to join centuries on centuries in 
the same itinerary, with the same velocity, — to continue the 
voyage without end and without rest ; we should be able te 
guide ourselves in any part of space, left, right, forwards 



1 8 Marvels of the Heavens. 

backwards, above, below, in every direction ; and when after 
centuries employed in this giddy course, we should stop our- 
selves fascinated, or in despair before the immensity eternally 
open, eternally renewed ; we should again understand that our 
secular flights had not measured for us the smallest part of 
space, and that we were not more advanced than at our 
starting-point. In truth, it is the infinite which surrounds 
us, as we before expressed it, or the infinite number of worlds. 
We should be able to float for eternity without ever finding 
anything before us but an eternally open infinite. 

Hence it follows, that all our ideas on space have but a 
purely relative value. When we say, for instance, to ascend 
to the sky, to descend under the earth, these expressions are 
false in themselves, for being situated in the bosom of the 
infinite, we can neither ascend nor descend : there is no above 
or below ; these words have only an acceptation relative to 
the terrestrial surface on which we live. 

The universe must, therefore, be represented as an ex- 
panse without limits, without shores, illimited, infinite, in 
the bosom of which float suns like that which lights us, and 
earths like that which poises under our steps. Neither dome, 
nor vaults, nor limits of any kind ; void in every direction, 
and in this infinite void an immense quantity of w T orlds, 
which we will soon describe. It is this universal space that 
the author of the * Genie de l'Homme ' wished to celebrate, 
when he expressed the remarkable thoughts which follow :— 

' Oui, quand je m'arraerais des ailes de l'Aurore, 
Pour compter les soleils dont le ciel se decore ; 
Quand de l'immensite sondant les profondeurs, 
Ma pensee unirait les nombres aux grandeurs ; 
Sous ces gouffres sacres egarant mon audace, 
Quand j'userais le temps a mesurer 1'espace : 
Je vermis s'ecouler les siecles reunis, 
Et presse, sans espoir, entre deux infinis, 
Je nie serais toujours ecarte de moi-nieme, 
Sans iamais m'approcher de ce vaste problem e.' 



19 



IV. 

GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE UNIVERSE. 

STARS ARE DISTRIBUTED IN CLUSTERS. 



4 On a sonde ces regions voilees 
Les bornes du possible ont ete reculees ! 
Un mortel a pu voir, arme d'un ceil geant, 
Os'ciller des lueurs aux confins du neant. 
C'est vous dont notre Hersch^l, 6 pales nebuleuses 
Decouvrit les clartes qu'on dirait fabuleuses ! 
II apergut ea vous des germes d'univers, 
Qui, selon leurs aspects et leurs ages divers, 
Ou contenaient encor leurs semences fecondes, 
Ou deja repandaient leurs poussieres de mondes ! 
Eh bien ! de ces lueurs blanchatres, que les veux 
Discernent vaguement aux limites des cieux, 
L'une contient le ciel et le monde ou nous sorames. 
Ah ! la terre est trop loin ! je ne vois plus les hommes. 

J. J. Ampere. 



In the bosom of infinite space, the unfathomable extent 
of which we have tried to comprehend, float rich clusters of 
stars, each separated by immense intervals. We shall soon 
show that all the stars are suns like ours, shining with their 
own light, and foci of as many systems of worlds. Now the 
stars are not scattered in all parts of space at hazard : they 
are grouped as the members of many families. If we com- 
pared the ocean of the heavens with the oceans of the Earth, 
we should say that the isles which sprinkle this ocean do not 
3 



20 Marvels of the Heavens. 

rise separately in all parts of the sea, but that they are 
united here and there in archipelagoes more or less rich. A 
Power as ancient as the existence of matter presided at the 
creation of these isles, each archipelago of which contains a 
great number ; not one amongst them has risen spontaneously 
in an isolated region ; they are all collected in tribes, most ol 
which count their members bv millions. 

These rich groupings of stars have received the name of 
1 Nebulae.' This name was given at the time of the invention 
of astronomical lenses, when these starry tribes were distin- 
guished only under a diffused, cloudy aspect, which did not 
enable the eye to distinguish the composing stars. This 
appearance not revealing in any way the idea of solar clusters, 
it was thought that they were only phosphorescent, cosmical 
vapours, whirlwinds of luminous substance, or possibly 
primitive fluids, whose progressive condensation would in the 
future effect the formation of new stars. They were thought 
to assist at the creation of distant worlds, and sometimes, in 
remarking their different degrees of luminosity, people thought 
they could infer their relative ages, as in a forest the age of 
trees of the same species may be known on approach accord- 
ing to their size or the concentric circles which are formed 
each year under the bark. Thus the first nebula observed by 
the aid of the telescope and pointed out as an object of 
particular nature, the nebula of Andromeda, was considered 
for three centuries and a half as entirely deprived of stars. 
Simon Marius of Franconia, who from a musician became an 
astronomer — very compatible tastes, moreover — describing 
this oval and whitish appearance, which, more brilliant at 
the centre, became fainter at the edges, said that it resembled 
' the light of a candle (candela) seen at a distance through a 
sheet of horn.' Only a few years ago a Cambridge astro- 
nomer counted within the limits of this nebula 1500 little 
stars, notwithstanding which, the centre still keeps the aspect 
of a diffused light, in spite of the best instruments. Later, 
the astronomer Halley thought no more of the star- clusters. 



General Arrangement of the Universe. 21 

1 In reality,' he states, these spots are nothing more than 
light coming from an immense space situated in the regions 
of ether, filled with a diffused and luminous medium by 
itself.' Others, again, imagined that at that spot the bright- 
ness of empyrean heaven was seen through an opening in the 
firmament. Derham said this, the author of astro-theology. 
But when optical instruments were perfected, this appearance 
of diffused light was transformed into a brilliant dotting ; in 
proportion as the power of the telescope became more search- 
ing, the number of apparent nebulae diminished, and at pre- 
sent many of those which in Galileo's time were regarded 
as cosmical clouds are resolved into stars. To be just, it 
must be added that in revealing the stellar composition of 
the first nebulae, the telescope showed others whose nature 
has only quite recently been found out; these nebulae re- 
main in an indistinct state, not only on account of their 
prodigious distance, but because they are composed of vast 
cloud-masses of glowing gas. 

Thus, infinite space must be represented as an immense 
void in the bosom of which are suspended archipelagoes of 
stars. These archipelagoes are themselves of infinite number, 
the stars which compose them can be counted by millions, and 
from one to the other the distance is incalculable. They are 
distributed in space in every direction, in every sense, follow- 
ing every imaginable course, and themselves invested with 
every possible form, as we shall soon see. 

One of the most remarkable and regular nebulae, and the 
one that may at the same time serve best for illustrating the 
arguments which precede, is the nebula in the Centaur. We 
shall study further on the aspect of the constellations and the 
most simple method of finding celestial objects most worthy 
of our attention. This nebula is presented under the follow- 
ing aspect in the field of a good telescope. 

With the naked eye it is with difficulty distinguished as 
a point of faint light ; in the telescope it is seen as a pro- 
digious number of stars strongly condensed toward*: tliR 



22 Marvels of the Heavens, 

centre. This condensation is a manifest proof that the cluster 
of stars is not only circular, but also spherical. One instant . 
of attention suffices indeed to show that if we look at a sphere 
of stars at a distance, the visual ray will pass through less if 
it look at the edges of the sphere than if it look at the centre, 
and will meet with fewer stars on its passage towards the 
borders than towards the centre. In proportion as this 




Fig. 2. — Cluster in the Centaur. 

visual ray gets nearer the centre its part comprised in the 
sphere will become longer, and the number of stars which it 
will meet goes on increasing. The maximum will be at the 
very centre. It was this optical effect which induced the 
belief in a condensation of nebulous matter. Halley dis- 
covered this cluster in 1G79, whilst he was working at the 
catalogue of objects visible in the Southern heavens. 



General Arrangement of the Universe. 23 

The limits of this cluster are not so clearly defined as in 
those which have particularly received the name of globular. 
Fig. 3 represents some types chosen from the latter. 




Fig. 3 — Glubular C usti rs. 

Of these star-clusters the first are certainly spherical ; 
others elongated, the thickness of which we see gradually 
diminished. These aue probably also circular, but flattened 



24 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



in the form of lenses ; instead of being presented to ns in front 
they are seen edgeways. 




At the sight of these globular masses one may ask with 
Arago, What is the number of stars contained in some of 



General Arrangement of the Universe. 



25 



these clusters. The astronomer himself replied to his question. 
It would be impossible to count in detail and accurately the 
total number of stars of which certain globular nebulas are 





^--^ii-v ■<, 


v ., . 


- " •%# -•"■ . i 


! %0 


1 
■ 



composed ; but one may be able to arrive at limits. In cal- 
culating the angular space of the stars situated near the edges, 
that is to say, in the region where they do not project on 



26 Marvels of the Heavens. 

each other, and comparing them with the total diameter of 
the group, it is certain that a nebula, whose apparent super- 
ficial extent is scarcely equal to the tenth of that of the lunar 




Fig. 6.— Nebula in the Lion. 

disc, does not contain less than 20,000 stars ; this is the 
minimum. The dynamic conditions proper to insure the 
indefinite preservation of a similar multitude of stars, does 



General Arrangement of the Universe 27 

not seem easy to imagine, adds the celebrated astronomer. 
Supposing the system at rest, the stars in time will fall on 
each other. Giving it a rotatory movement round a single 
axis, shocks will inevitably take place. After all, is it certain 
a priori that the globular systems of stars must be preserved 
indefinitely in the state in which we now see them ? 

The examination of changes which have taken place in 
other systems led to the belief, on the contrary, that there is 
nothing infinitely stable there, and that movement governs 
these clusters of suns, as w r ell as it governs each of the stars, 
and each of the little worlds which revolve round them. 

The most regular nebulas are not the most curious ; not- 
withstanding, the aspect of some of them leaves a certain 
wonder in the mind. There are star-clusters which, instead 
of being condensed in an immense globe, are distributed in a 
crown, presenting the appearance of a circular or oval 
nebula, but hollow at its centre. Two types of this kind are 
represented in figs. 5 and 6. 

The first is the perforated nebula of Lyra ; the second is 
that of Andromeda. In the one, the magnificent telescope of 
Lord Rosse shows dazzling borders of stars close together, 
and luminous fringes notching the outer edge ; in the other, 
two suns, symmetrically placed on one side and the other of the 
ellipse, appear destined to the government of this system in its 
passage through space. Perforated nebulae, says A. de Hum- 
boldt, are one of the rarest curiosities. That of Lyra is the 
most celebrated; it was discovered in 1779, at Toulouse, by 
Arquier, at the time when the comet pointed out by Bode 
approached the region that it occupied. It is about the 
apparent size of the disc of Jupiter, and forms an ellipse, its 
two diameters being in the ratio of four to five. The interior 
of the ring is not dark, but slightly luminous. The hollow 
space is, however, of a very deep black in the beautiful per- 
forated nebulas of the Southern hemisphere. All are probably 
star-clusters in form of rings. 

The interesting nebula sketched on the foregoing page 



28 Marvels of the Heavens, 

will serve ns as a transition between the regular and irregular 
nebulas ; it is the elliptic annular cluster in the Lion. It 
appears to possess a central nucleus of great condensation. 
This nucleus is enveloped with concentric spheres, more or 
less filled with stars, separated from each other by spaces, 
and these envelopes succeed each other along a great axis, 
getting farther from the centra diminishing in extent equally 
on all sides, as far as the pon*t where they fade away in a 
cone. 



w 



CLUSTERS AND NEBULA — (com ihukdj 

' When night, with wings of starry gloom, 
ershadows all the earth and skies, 
Like some dark, heauteous bird, whose plume 
Is sparkling with unnumber'd eyes — 
That sacred gloom, those fires divine, 
So grand, so countless, Lord, are Thine ! ' 

Moore. 

In proportion as the magnifying power of telescopes is 
increased, the contour of these star-clusters, like their in- 
terior aspect, presents itself under a more and more irregular 
form. Such of these objects which formerly appeared purely 
circular or elliptical, have since showed great irregularity in 
their form as well as in the degree of their luminosity. In 
the place where pale and whitish clouds gave out a calm and 
uniform light, the giant eye of the telescope has discovered 
alternately dark and luminous regions. The figures we are 
about to give all tend to support this remark ; others confirm 
it in a still more striking manner. For instance, there is 
in the zodiacal constellation of the -Bull a uniform and oval 
nebula, which does not present the least singularity in instru- 
ments of small power; but when Lord Eosse pointed his 
telescope to it for the first time, he could not resist imme- 
diately giving it the singular name of the Crab nebula, which 
its form alone suggested. The ellipse was changed into a 
fish ; the antennae, claws, and tail were depicted on the black 
sky by a white outline, formed by long trains of stars. 



30 Marvels of the Heavens. 

There are irregular clusters and nebulae of every possible 
shape, and of the thousands which have been already observed, 
described, and sketched, no two of them have been found to 




Fig. 7.— Crab Cluster in the Bull. 

resemble each other. They take the most extraordinary forms. 
Some present the aspect of real comets ; the nucleus is 
accompanied with a large tail and long luminous train : 



Clusters and Nebulae. 31 

these are in the Unicorn, the River Eridai.us, and the Great 
Bear ; and especially that in the Ship Argo, in which is 
again found the classical type of the most regular comets. 
Others, like that in Orion, most celebrated by the study 
which has distinguished it, or like that of the Magellanic 
Clouds and in the Ship (/;), appear like immense vaporous 
clouds tossed about by some rough winds, pierced with 
deep rents and broken in jagged portions. Another, again 




Fig. 8.— The Ship Argo. 

(that in the Fox), resembles the dumb-bells which gymnasts 
lift up to exercise the power of the arms ; that in Sobieski's 
Crown describes on the page of heaven the last capital of 
the Greek alphabet, n. 

Other nebulas are grouped together, as if two or three 
of these vast systems had united their destinies. Many are 
double ; we see two spherical masses united by the diffused 
glow which envelopes them, or they may be separated by a 



32 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



slight angular distance, or sometimes even enclosed in lumi- 
nous concentric strata like two eggs of snow in the midst of a 
nest of light. Again, elsewhere, in the Magellanic Clouds 




in the Southern hemisphere, we see four circular nebulae ar- 
ranged at the four angles of a lozenge, itself illuminated with 
fine star-dust ; at one of the extreme angles, the nebula is itself 
divided into four globes, so that in reality we have before us an 



Clusters and Nebulae. 



33 



immense cluster of stars, of which the extreme limits present 
seven principal condensations. But this is not all. Not only 
do these distant systems, some of them peopled with myriads 




of suns, take the most varied forms, not only do they present 
a diversity of aspect greater than it is possible to imagine ; 
but some of them also unfold to the astonished eye which 
contemplates them varied shades and real colours. One is 



34 Marvels of the Heavens, 

}f a beautiful indigo blue ; another is rose-coloured at its 
centre with a white border, another again emits magnificent 
sky-blue rays. This colouring is produced by the actual 
colour of the stars which compose it.* Others have been seen 
whose luminous intensity has perceptibly varied ; the bright- 
ness of one of them has faded to such a degree as to be 
rendered completely invisible. 

It is difficult to describe the impression which the sight 
of these distant universes makes on the mind when one sees 
them through the wonderful telescopes of modern times. The 
rays of light which reach us from so far place us for the time 
in communication with these strange creations, and the senti- 
ment of terrestrial life hushed in the silence of night seems 
governed by the influence which celestial contemplation so easily 
exercises on the captivated soul. Earthly things- lose their 
value, and one joins willingly with the voice of the poet of the 
Irish Melodies : — 

' There's nothing bright but heaven, 
And false the light on glory's plume, 

As fading hues of even ; 
And Love and Hope and Beauty's bloom, 
Are blossoms gathered for the tomb ; 

There's nothing bright but heaven. 1 

One feels that, in spite of the unfathomable distance which 
separates our abode from these far-off dwellings, there are there 
luminous foci and centres of movement : it is not a void, it is 
not a desert ; it is ' something,' and this something suffices to 
attract our attention and awaken our reverie. An indefinable 
impression is communicated to us by the stellar rays which 
descend silently from unexplored abysses ; one feels it without 
analysing it, and the traces of it remain ineffaceable, like those 
felt by a traveller when he steps on strange lands, and sees 
new sides above his head. This is described by the illus- 

* This remark applies to the clusters only. In the nebulae the 
colours are due to another cause. — Ts 




Fig. 11.— Spiral Nebula in the Constellation of the Hunting Dogs. 



Nebulce. 37 

trious author of ' Cosmos,' when he presents the Magellanic 
Clouds, vast nebulas close to the Southern pole, as a unique 
object in the world of celestial phenomena. ' The magnificent 
zones of the Southern heavens comprised between the parallels 
from fifty and eighty degrees, are the richest in nebulous 
stars and irreducible nebulous clusters. Of the two Magel- 
lanic Clouds which lie near the Southern pole, this pole 
so poor in stars that it might be called a waste country, the 
largest especially appears, according to recent researches, to be 
a wonderful agglomeration of spherical clusters of large and 
small stars, and irreducible nebulas, whose general brightness 
lights up the field of sight and forms the background of the 
picture. The aspect of these Clouds, the brilliant constella- 
tion of the Ship Argo, the Milky Way, which extends 
between the Scorpion, Centaur and Cross, and the picturesque 
aspect of the whole Southern sky, have produced on my mind 
an ineffaceable impression.' Nevertheless, the most mag- 
nificent and eloquent aspect of the nebulae has not yet been 
revealed to us by those which precede. To form an idea of 
the importance of these objects, and to appreciate their value, 
from the space which they occupy, also from the time which 
has been necessary for their formation, we must see the splendid 
spiral nebulas which the powerful telescope at Parsonstown 
unveils to us, and which in ordinary instruments only present 
appearances similar to those we have already noticed. 

Lord Rosse, indeed, was the first to discover that the vast 
systems of suns were clustered, not only simply round a 
centre of condensation, not only in masses more or less regular, 
but according to a distribution which reveals the existence of 
gigantic forces in action among them. He observed some 
immense agglomerations of which the composing stars were 
distributed in long lines in a general system of spiral curves. 

From the principal centre springs a multitude of luminous 
spirals, formed of a numberless quantity of suns or nebulous 
masses, shaping the resplendent nucleus, whence they issue to 
be lost in the distance, imperceptibly parting with their bright- 



38 Marvels of the Heavens. 

less, and dying away as trains of phosphorescent vapours. A 
secondary nucleus brings up on one side the extremities of the 
longest spirals. There are splendid bands of constellated 
'ight, terminated with two rounded nodes. This rich spiral 
.iebula belongs to the constellation of the Hunting Dogs 
Before the discovery due to the powerful telescope which 
removed the veil with which it was enveloped, the best 
instruments only showed it as a single jing, one half of its 
contour surrounding a very bright globular nebula at its 
centre. Beyond the ring was noticed a second very small 
round nebula. Never was change of form more manifested 
between the aspects revealed by telescopes of different powers. 
To imagine the myriads of centuries necessary to the forma- 
tion of these immense systems would be a vain undertaking. 
It is with slowness that nature accomplishes its most 
tremendous operations. In order that cosmical matter or the 
prodigious assemblage of so many stars could be distributed 
according to the curves revealed by the telescope, and winding 
round each other in gigantic spirals under the governing 
action of the combined attraction of all parts which compose 
this universe, it would require an incalculable series of 
accumulated years to pass away. Here especially it is truth 
to say that the luminous rays which descend from those 
distant creations are to us the most ancient testimony of the 
existence of matter. 

The spiral nebula of the Hunting Dogs is not the only one 
of this form. In the constellation of the Virgin, Lion, and 
Pegasus, we also admire similar systems. That in the Virgin, 
situated in the central ring of this figure, is presented under the 
aspect of the ' wheels ' that we see in fireworks ; from the 
luminous centre white trains of light wind round, all guided and 
curved in the same direction ; dark spaces separate them and 
give more clearness to the sketching of their direction. 
That in the Lion presents a series of oval concentric 
zones enveloping the centre, also more luminous ; numerous 
stars shine out in the centre. The spiral nebula of Pegasus, 



Nebulce. 39 

marked with a beautiful star at its central point, is circular, 
and compose.d of circles alternately dark and luminous ; on 
one side the circumference is cut by a tangent, a wide line of 
light longer than the nebula itself, to which this appears to 




Fig. 12.— Spiral Nebula in the Virgin 

be attached, like the little silken nests of insects on branches. 
In writing these lines. I am reminded of the year 1702, in 
which a maker of systems wrote a large book proving that 
the universe is a large spiral. According to him, God was 



40 Marvels of the Heavens. 

placed at the centre of the heavens ; from this centre He 
would communicate with all other created beings by an 
infinity of spiral lines directed towards the circumference. 
Sun and worlds, bodies and spirits, all would move in a 
spiral. If this singular author were again born in our day, 
with what delight would he seize our spiral nebulae to illus- 
trate his thesis. 

Nebulae are not uniformly spread in all regions of the 
sky. On the starry sphere vast localities may be observed 
where no nebula is visible, whilst, in other parts, they appear 
really heaped up. 

The richest region of the heavens is in the following 
group of constellations, which will soon be recognised : the 
Great Bear, Cassiopea, Berenice's Hair, the Virgin. In 
the zodiacal region, near the Virgin, in an hour may be seen 
more than three hundred nebulae ; whilst, in the opposite 
region, a hundred would not be met with. The spaces 
which precede or follow nebulae contain few stars. Herschel 
found this rule constant — so constant, in fact, that each time 
during a certain period no star was brought in the field of 
his immovable telescope by the movement of the heavens, 
he used to say to his secretary who assisted him, ' Get ready 
to write, nebulae are coming.' 

From this fact, namely, that the spaces poorest in stars are 
near the richest nebulae, and from the other, that stars are 
generally more condensed towards the centre of nebulae, follows 
a confirmation of what we said before on the incessant work of 
many centuries which would be required to elaborate these 
systems. There is nothing astonishing that these powerful 
unions were formed, either at the expense of the surrounding 
cosmical matter, destined to be condensed in stars, or at the 
expense of the stars themselves, and that the spaces which 
surround them resemble vast deserts or regions laid waste. 

At the sight of the pale nebulae which sprinkle the 
expanse, the soul feels itself attracted, as at the edge of those 
abysses whose unknown depth produces giddiness. To the 



Nebulce, 41 

greatness of the spectacle succeeds a dearer sentiment, a 
sentiment of affection for these mysterious beauties, and one 
understands how much they exceed the most precious riches-, 
of earth. 

' Ye stars ! which are the poetry of heaven ! 
If in your bright leaves we would read the fate 
Of men and empires, — 'tis to he forgiven, 
That, in our aspirations to be great, 
Our destinies o'erleap their mortal state, 
And claim a kindred with you ; for ye are 
A beauty and a mystery, and create 
In us such love and reverence from afar, 
That fortune, fame, power, life, have named themselves a star 

All heaven and earth are still — though not in sleep, 

But breathless, as we grow when feeling most ; 

And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep: 

All heaven and earth are still. From the high host 

Of stars, to the lulled lake and mountain-coast, 

All is concentred in a life intense, 

When not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost, 

But hath a part of being, and a sense 

Of that which is of all Creator and defence. 

Then stirs the feeling infinite, so felt- 
In solitude, when we are least alone ; 
A truth, which through our being then doth melt, 
And purifies from self; it is a tone, 
The soul and source of music, which makes knows 
Eternal harmony, and sheds a charm 
Like to the fabled Cytherea's zone, 
Binding all things with beauty ; — 'twould disarm 
The spectre Death, had ne substantial power to tiar^ 

Not vainly did the early Persian make 
His altar the high places, and the peak 
Of earth, o'ergazing mountains, and thus take 



42 Marvels of the Heavens. 

A fit and unwalled temple, there to seek 
The Spirit, in whose honour shrines are weak, 
Upreared of human hands. Come, and compare 
Columns and idol-dweliings, Goth or Greek, 
With nature's realms of worshio, earth and air, 
Nor fix on fond abodes to cir^uaiscribe thy prayer I ' 

• Ckiidfi IJarot* 



43 



VI 

THE MILKY WAY. 

O nuit majestueuse, arche immense et pr fond^, 
Ou Ton entrevoit Dieu comme le fond sousPondt? 
Ou taut d'astres en feux portant ecrit son nom, 
Vont de ce nom splendide eclairer 1 horizon, 
Et jusqu'aux infinis ou leur courbe e*t lancee, 
Porter ses yeux, sa main, son ombre et sa pensee ! 
Et vous vents palpitant la nuit sous ces hauts lieux 
Qui cavessez la terre et parfumez les cieux ! 
Mysteres de la nuit, que l'ange seul contemple, 
Cette heure aussi pour moi leve. un ricleau du temple 
Lamaetine, Jocelyn. 

We have seen that the universe is formed of clusters and nebuLe, 
spread in the immensity of space, at every imaginable depth 
and in every possible direction.* But then, if there are only 
nebulae in space, and if no heavenly body is isolated from 
these clusters, our Earth, then, forms part of a nebula. 
The inhabitant of the terrestrial globe, then, finds himself also 
in the bosom of one of those immense clusters of stars 
which constitute the archipelagoes of the celestial ocean. And 
we do not, therefore, live, as appearances lead us to suppose, 
beyond this starry creation which shines over our heads. In 
a word, if all the celestial bodies are united in groups, the 
Earth, then, also belongs to a group of stars, and a cluster. 

Yes. The Earth, like all the stars, forms part of a cluster ! 
It is not isolated in the deserts of the infinite ; it is not an ex- 
ception to the general law. The Earth, like the planets which 
are near it, belongs to the Sun. This Sun represents them in 
the universal numbering of the stars, for neither Earth nor 

* Let us now add that a recent discovery has proved several of the 
nebulae to be composed of masses of incandescent gas. — Te. 



44 Marvels of the Heavens. 

planets count in the number of these splendours, and this Sun 
is one of the stars composing an immense nebula. 

The Sun is but a star ! This assertion seems astonishing at 
first sight, on account of the illusions produced by the senses. 
The torch of our light, the focus of heat, the ruler of ter- 
restrial life, appears to us under the legitimate prestige of its 
own power, and we bow to it as the prince of stars, as the 
first among the great ones of the heavens. And for us, 
indeed, it supremely deserves these titles, and all those which 
our just knowledge pleases to attribute to it. But if we 
consider it superior to the stars, if we find it more important, 
more magnificent, and more necessary, it is only because we 
are nearer to it, because in reality we are its tenants, its 
subjects, and that, contrary to that which happens on Earth, 
we recognise with delight the superiority of our master in 
the celestial realm. Belonging to him, we live at his expense, 
real parasites, and without him we should fall at once into 
the shades of death. To thank him and recognise his power 
is only just. Nevertheless, to judge things from an absolute 
point of view, we must rise above any particular dependence 
which may oppose the justice of our judgment, like him w T ho, 
placed in the interior of an edifice and wishing to ascertain 
the rank of this edifice in the town, goes to a distance from 
it, and, placing himself on high ground, compares the various 
edifices with each other. We must, in the same way, put 
aside solar rule, and transport ourselves in spirit to a 
distant point in space, whence we should be able to determine 
the rank occupied by our Sun in the sidereal world. 

Now, on getting further from the Sun towards any point 
in space, we shall see the Sun diminish in size and lose the 
importance which appeared to be his privilege. When we 
reach the limits of his system, he will then only present the 
aspect of a large star. On getting still further away, we 
shall see it descend to a simple star. Lastly, if we go towards 
any star in the heavens and continue to watch the decrease of 
the Sun which sinks behind us in the depths of space, it will 



The Milky Way. 45 

become a small star soon lost in the multitude of others ; the 
one we are approaching will lose, on the contrary, its small 
aspect, will increase, shine out, and get larger in proportion as 
we approach it, and will become a real sun, not less important 
than ours by its luminous and calorific power and by the 
gifts it distributes to the planets of its domain. 

Passing beyond this new sun and continuing our path, we 
shall behold an analogous transformation of other stars into 
suns ; all those towards which we shall pass successively will 
appear to us under this aspect, thus showing that they 
shine with their own light and are so many planetary foci. 
Lastly, when we shall have crossed these starry plains, we 
shall reach shores where the suns are more scarce, and soon, a 
desert void of stars. 

To the thousand millions and thousand millions of miles 
we have just traversed, let us again add a certain quantity of 
thousands of millions, and we shall soon arrive at a favourable 
point for estimating the absolute rank of our Sun. Let us 
then suppose that we at last reach the point from which we 
see the suns constituting our cluster, and then returning by 
the way we came, w T e should find out what place our Sun 
occupies in the army of stars that we have left behind us. 

It is there only that we can judge well of things. Now, 
this is what appears to us. All the stars which people our 
starry nights are enclosed in a narrow space, and we notice — 
now that we are beyond them — that they form a cluster of 
small bright points, and that they resemble an isle of lights 
suspended in space. In a word — and this is the point to 
which we wished to arrive — they form a cluster. This 
cluster is isolated ; its limits are clearly enough defined, and 
no group, no star, shines in the space which surrounds it. It 
is marked out in the darkness in the following page (fig. 13). 

This is the nebula in which we live ; this is the abode of, 
our solar world. In w r hat port of it are we? The question is 
at least curious, and. from the spot, where we are placed to 
observe the star-cluster of which we form part under its true 



46 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



aspect, the best instruments would not succeed in distin- 
guishing our little Sun. But it is not always necessary to see - 
people in order to guess where they are. This is why we 
are able to travel towards the centre of the nebula, and, not far 
from the line which separates the zone into two layers, to ob- 
serve a little point. This point is the place occupied by our 
Sun. The Earth and planets are with him ; but, since it is 
impossible to distinguish the Sun in the midst of this multitude, 
a fortiori, the utter impossibility of perceiving the slightest 
vestige of the existence of our planetary system will be manifest. 



Fig. 13.— The Milky Way. 



If w T e live thus in the middle region of a rich nebula, how 7 is 
it, it may be asked by curious minds, how is it that we cannot 
distinguish it, and that our clear nights present around us a 
sky purely and splendidly starry? Is it then necessary to go 
away so many thousand millions of leagues from the Earth to 
know where it is placed ? And if that is necessary, how has 
it been known ? 

No : this is not necessary, as the position is known. 
From the surface of our sphere we observe the sky, and we 
see that all around us a large nebulous circle envelopes our 
globe. We are ourselves near the centre of this circle, and 



The Milky Way. 47 

each night displays over our heads a whitish band of dense 
stars continually surrounding us. This collection of stars, it 
has already been guessed, is the Milky Way. 

The Milky Way, this wide irregular ribbon of stellar 
clouds which crosses the sky in all its width, is indeed 
nothing more than the greatest length of this immense lens of 
stars to which we belong. If the whole sky does not appear 
nebulous in every direction, it is precisely because the nebula 
to which we belong is not spherical, but of a lenticular form, 
and that in the thickness of the lens there is less depth and 
fewer stars than in the direction of the diameter. From the spot 
on which we are placed, if our sight pass through the greatest 
length it meets stars on stars indefinitely, because there is an 
immense expanse from the point where we are to the edges of 
the flattened nebula. But if our sight turn aside from the 
equatorial plane towards the sides, it meets with fewer stars 
as it gets further distant, and on reaching the polar diameter, 
scarcely any more will be met with. There are thirty times 
less stars in these regions than in those near the equatorial 
plane of the cluster. 

All the stars which sparkle in the sky during a dark 
night belong to a single cluster, to a single nebula, the Milky 
Way marking its longitudinal direction. The stars are not 
isolated in an absolute manner, at random, in the deserts of 
space ; they form part of a whole ; the Sun which lights us is 
one of them ; and they are counted by millions in a gigantic 
group, analogous to the distant clusters of which we have 
already spoken. Instead of only seeing a diffused glimmer, 
an indistinct light in the Milky Way, the telescope separates 
the stars which compose it and shows that it is formed of an 
innumerable multitude of stars very irregularly connected. 

The idea which we must form of the Milky Way is then 
very different from that which appearances present to us and 
from that with which the ancients contented themselves. 
From the beginning of ages, from the first observations of an 
elementary astronomy, this semi -luminous train which crosses 



48 Marvels of the Heavens. 

the sky was noticed, and the ruling mythology adorned it 
with images. 

A Scotch poet of the sixteenth century, George Buchanan, 
described the history of the singular opinions entertained of the 
Milky Way ; at the same time he rose above it to the true 
cause of this heavenly sight. 

' Can I pass thee in silence ? Thou whom ancient poet? 
have celebrated so greatly in their songs ! Thou who dividest 
the heavens with thy wide belt, and who formest one of its 
most beautiful ornaments ! Thou shinest in the bosom of 
night, visible to the whole universe, attracting the eyes of 
mortals. Thou spreadest thy soft light each time that the 
cloudless atmosphere permits us to see the heavenly vault with 
clearness. That brilliant whiteness which causeth thee to be 
so easily noticed has given thee the name of the Milky Way, 
either (if fable has not imposed on the ancient poets) because 
' some drops of milk fell from Juno's bosom and flowed among 
the stars, tracing on the azure of the heavens this belt 
remarkable for its whiteness, or, according to others, because 
it is the path which leads to the dwelling of the gods, and to 
the palace of the god of thunder. There are those who believe 
that it is the home which the shades of happy souls inhabit ; 
that there, free from all work, free from all trouble, they live 
like gods in eternal bliss. Others persist that the pole still 
preserves the traces of the fire caused by Phaeton, when Phoebus' 
car, thrown from its path by this new conductor, left to the 
prey of the flames the heavenly abodes and omitted to embrace 
the universe. . There are some who pretend that, when God 
created the world and gathered the different parts together, 
and united its immense sides, the ends of the heavens welding 
themselves together, left a seam between them, and formed a con- 
tinual scar, which marks the point of union of all these parts. 
But those, who busy themselves with seeking the secret causes 
of heavenly phenomena, believe that this band is produced by 
a mass of contiguous little stars, whose united lights form this 
luminous whiteness, similar to that which twilight produces, or 
to that feeble light which the stars retain when they fade on 
the approach of Phoebus.' 



The Milky Way. 49 

These fantasies of imagination, authorised by old fables, 
were far from the truth ; and in this case, as heretofore, truth 
is more beautiful, greater, and more admirable than fiction. 
From the day when the first astronomical glasses dis- 
tinguished the stars whose cluster forms the glimmer of this 
zone, astronomers directed their attention to its constitution 
and structure. William Herschel, with the powerful tele- 
scope made with his own hands, resolved, towards the end of 
the last century, to count the stars comprised in this zone : he 
addressed himself to his task and divided his work into portions. 
His long perseverance was crowned with success. By a careful 
comparison of the parts w T here the condensation of stars 
attains its maximum with those where it attains its minimum, 
and by an examination of the extent occupied by these 
immense rings, the great observer found that the Milky Way 
did not enclose less than eighteen millions of stars ! 

Eighteen millions of stars in the equatorial stratum of the 
lenticular nebula to which we belong : this is not the total 
number of which it is composed, as this does not refer to the 
lateral portions of this gigantic mass, and all the stars of 
the heavens situated on one side and on the other of the plane 
of greatest condensation are not included in this enumera- 
tion. We shall see further on, in the chapter devoted to the 
study of the stars, that the total number of the members of 
this populous tribe is much greater still than eighteen 
millions. What is the real extent occupied by this collection 
of suns ? The number of stars which compose it, and the 
relative distances from each other, comprises for this extent a 
number which the mind cannot well receive without being 
prepared for it, a number which it cannot appreciate without 
making great efforts to grapple it. I will not give the dis- 
tance in leagues, because an immense continuation of leagues 
exceeds the limits of even the vision of the mind ; it is better 
to take the measure used constantly for astronomical units. 
Now, the extent of the Milky Way, at its greatest length, 
would be measured by a ray of light which, travelling 186,000 



50 Marvels of the Heavens, 

miles per second, would travel in a straight line and with- 
out stopping for fifteen thousand years. 

Thus, as we are ourselves near the centre of this nebula, 
when in the field of a powerful telescope we observe the little 
distant stars situated in the depths of the Milky Way, our 
retina receives the impression of a luminous ray, which started 
seven or eight thousand years ago from a sun analogous to 
ours and forming part of the same group. 

If such be the extent of the nebula of which we are an 
infinitesimal constituent part, are not the other nebulae 
scattered in space also as rich and vast; or rather is our 
nation privileged, and does it exceed the others in richness 
or in extent ? 

There is no reason to stop at this last idea, as a remnant 
of vanity would be perhaps able still to suggest to us, to 
make up a little for the mediocrity of the natural rank which 
we hold. The Milky Way is not unique ; many of the nebulae 
of the universe are so many Milky Ways, more or less similar 
to our own. Some may be less vast ; others may possibly be 
vaster still, seeing that, in the domain of the infinite, space 
goes for nothing. It is best for us, then, to take the middle 
course, and to think that the pale and diffused nebulae which 
seem to tremble in the distance in unfathomable immensities, 
are Milky Ways peopled with as many suns as our own. 
But then, as they appear so small to us, they must necessarily 
be distant from us. More distant, indeed, for if we find 
oat at what distance we must remove our Milky Way in 
order to reduce it to the limit of a medium nebula, we find 
that we must remove it to 334 times its length, a distance 
which our agile messenger, a ray of light, takes a little more 
than five millions of years to accomplish. Such is the 
distance which may separate the gigantic clusters of suns, 
with which the sidereal universe is composed, and which 
hover in space, suspended at all depths of unfathomable 
immensity from each other. Contemplating these wonderful 
splendours we can understand that to poets they would be a 



The Milky Way. 51 

subject of ecstasy, and we repeat with emotion the beautiful 
thoughts thoy have inspired : 

' Oh, thou beautiful 
And unimaginable ether ! and 
Ye multiplying masses of increased 
And still-increasing lights ! What are ye ? What 
Is this blue wilderness of interminable 
Air, where ye roll along, as I have seen 
The leaves along the limpid streams of Eden ? 
Is your course measured for ye ? Or do ye 
Sweep on in your unbounded revelry 
Through an aerial universe of endless 
Expansion — at which my soul aches to think — 
Intoxicated with eternity ? 
Oh, God ! oh, Gods ! or whatsoe'er ye are ! 
How beautiful ye are ! How beautiful 
Your works, or accidents, or whatsoe'er 
They may be ! Let mo die, as atoms die 
(If that they die), or know ye in your might 
And knowledge ! My thoughts are not in this hour 
Unworthy what I see, though my dust is ; 
Spirit ! let me expire, or see them nearer.' • 

* Lord Byron, Cain. 



BOOK II. 



55 



THE SIDEREAL WORLD. 



1 Un monde est assoupi sous la voute des cieux, 
Mais sous la voute meme ou s'elevent mes yeux, 
Que de mondes nouveaux, que de soleils sans nombre 
Trahis par leur splendeur etincellent dans l'ombre ! 
Les signes epuises s'usent a les compter, 
Et Tame infatiga'ble est lasse d'y inonter ! 
... La l'an ti que Orion, des nuits percant les voiles, 
Dont Job a le premier nomme les sept etoiles ; 
Le Navire fendant l'efher silencieux, 
Le Bouvier dont le cbar se traine dans les cieux, 
La Lyre aux cordes d'or, le Cygne aux blanches ailes, 
Le Coursier qui du ciel tire des etincelles, 
La Balance inclinant son bsssin uncertain, 
Les blonds Cheveux livres au souffle du matin, 
Le Belier, le Taureau, l'Aigle, le Sagittaire, 
Tout ce que les pasteurs contemplaient sur la Terre,. 
Tout ce que les neros voilaient £temiser, 
Tout ce que les amants ont pu diviniser, 
Transporte dans le ciel par de touchants emblemes, 
N'a pu donner des noms a ces brillants systemes.' 

Lamaetine, 

According to what lias been previously stated, we in- 
habit the midst of a vast nebula ; its equatorial stratum, 
projecting itself on our sky, describes that cloudy zone 
known under the name of the Milky Way. Our Sun is one 
of the stars composing this gigantic cluster, and all the 
stars which sparkle during our silent nights form part, like 
him, of this same tribe. This is, properly speaking, our 
universe. The other nebulae may be considered by us as 



56 Marvels of the Heavens. 

other universes, foreign to this one, and which we have only 
contemplated in order to give us a more distinct notion of the 
grandeur of creation, but which we will henceforth leave in 
the unexplored immensity which they inhabit in the midst of 
space. Descending from the great to the small, proceeding 
from the whole to a part, we will now embrace less vast 
proportions ; we will pause at our sidereal universe, or, in 
other words, at the general description of the isle3 which 
constitute our celestial archipelago. 

We will not yet speak of the nature of the stars, their 
distances, movements, or their particular history; before 
pursuing the reality, it will be well for us to make a digres- 
sion on appearances. We are, however, averse to appear- 
ances, and much prefer reality ; but there are some of which 
we cannot avoid speaking, seeing that they form in a certain 
way the surface of the things that must be searched into, and 
it is necessary to pass this surface before reaching the interior. 
But when we agree that such and such a phenomenon is only 
an appearance, there will be no harm in our studying it ; the 
important points to be understood and to avoid confusion. 

The stars appear scattered at random in the heavens. 
In a fine starry night, when our sight rises to these heights, 
a great diversity in their brightness is noticed, and at the 
same time an apparent disorder in their general arrangement. 
This irregularity and the number of the stars have prevented 
the possibility of giving to each of them a particular name ; 
to recognise them and facilitate study, the heavenly sphere 
is divided into sections. The astronomy of the ancients, 
says Francoeur, was confined to a few rough distinctions ; 
they were at first contented to name the planets and most 
beautiful stars, and we have preserved this custom ; but when 
they wished to study more carefully, and wished to describe 
stars of less brilliancy, they could only follow a method, 
the imperfection of which they acknowledged. They were 
led like the naturalists who, to name the species of the three 
kingdoms, unite under a common name a certain number of 



The Sidereal World. 51 

creatures which they afterwards distinguish from each other 
by a qualification. Astronomers have united the stars in 
different groups, on which they have drawn an animal or 
fabulous being. To these groups, or constellations, they gave 
names from fables, history, or the animal kingdom. These 
denominations, consecrated by antiquity, are quite arbitrary ; 
and unless imagination itself creates images, as it sees pictures 
in the ever-changing contours of the clouds, we must not 
endeavour to find in the groups of stars anything which 
might recall the figure or imitate the image of the objects 
whose name the constellation bears. The necessity of being 
guided on the seas obliged man to choose in the heavens 
invariable signs by which he could direct his course, and 
this is the historical origin of the constellations. 

The ancients formed representative maps of the heavens, 
and from the time of Hipparchus, the Greek astronomer, they 
were able to class the stars, distinguishing them according 
to their brightness, in the positions occupied by each of them 
on these figures. 

It was necessary to fix on a method to find a particular 
star easily, in the midst of such a great number (four to five 
thousand) as is distinguished with the naked eye. The 
first origin of the constellations is unknown ; but it is ima- 
gined that they were established successively. The Centaur 
Chiron, Jason's preceptor, has the reputation of having first 
divided the heavens on the sphere of the Argonauts; but 
Job lived before the time, when the precedent is placed, and 
this prophet then spoke of Orion, the Pleiades, and Hyades, 
three thousand three hundred years ago. Homer also speaks 
of these constellations when describing Vulcan's shield : — 

' And on its surface many a rare design 
Of curious art his practised skill had wrought, 
Thereon were figured earth, and sky, and sea, 
The ever-circling sun, and full-orb'd moon, 
And all the signs that crown the vault of heav'n ; 
Pleiads and Hyads, and Orion's might, 



58 Marvels of the Heavens. 

And Arctos, call'd the "Wain, who wheels on high 

His circling course, and on Orion waits ; 

Sole star that never bathes in th' ocean wave.' * 

The same mythological divisions are used in the present 
day. Since the establishment of Christianity, there have 
been many efforts to reform this pagan system, and to 
replace it by Christian denominations. In the planisphere 
of Bede, St. Peter is substituted for the Ram, St. Andrew 
for the Bull, &c. From these attempts, no name escapes ; 
David's chariot, Solomon's seal, the three Magi kings, or 
Jacob's rod, &c, date the highest. Later still a German 
proposed to give to the twelve signs of the Zodiac the 
heraldry of the twelve most illustrious houses of Europe. 
These singular efforts remained sterile, and the mythological 
reign has continued until the present day. 

As great diversity has been noticed in the brightness of 
stars, in order to facilitate their indication, they have been 
classed in order of magnitude. This word 'magnitude' is 
improper, seeing that it has no relation to the dimensions of 
the stars, these dimensions being still unknown to us ; it 
dates from a period when it was believed that the brightest 
stars were the largest, and this is the origin of the de- 
nomination ; but it is important to know that this is not its 
real sense. It simply corresponds to the apparent brightness 
of the stars. Thus, stars of the first magnitude are those 
which shine with the greatest brightness in dark nights; 
those of the second magnitude shine less, &c. Now, this 
apparent brightness belongs both to the real size of the star, 
its intrinsic light, and its distance from the Earth ; conse- 
quently, it only possesses an essentially relative meaning. 
Nevertheless, it may be said generally that the brightest stars 
are nearest, that those whose pale glimmer is scarcely 
distinguished in the field of the telescope are more distant. 

Thus, when we shall speak of the magnitude of stars, it is 

* Homer's Iliad. 






The Sidereal World. 59 

to be understood that we refer simply to their apparent 
brightness ; this brightness greatly facilitates the means of 
distinguishing them among the constellations. There is now 
another fact which is not less important to consider as 
relative, and not as absolute ; this is the arrangement of the 
stars or forms of the constellations. We know, already, that 
the sky is not a concave sphere in which bright nails are fast- 
ened, and that there is no kind of vault — only immense, infinite 
void surrounding the Earth on all parts and in every direction. 
We know, also, that the stars, suns in space, are scattered at 
every distance in the vast immensity. When, then, we 
notice two stars close together in the sky, their apparent 
proximity does not in any way prove their real proximity : 
they may be very distant from each other, in the direction of 
vision, at a distance equal to or greater than that which 
separates us from the nearest one. In a similar way, when 
four, or five, or more stars are united in the same group, 
this does not imply that these stars, forming the same 
constellation, are on the same plane and at an equal distance 
from the Earth. By no means. Dispersed at all depths 
of space, all around the terrestrial atom, the arrangement 
which they display to our eyes is only an appearance caused 
by the position of the Earth with regard to them. This is 
purely a matter of perspective. When we find ourselves 
during the night in the midst of a large, open space (for 
instance, the Place de la Concorde) in which numerous gas- 
lights are dispersed, it is difficult for us to distinguish, at a 
certain distance, the most remote lights from those which are 
less so : they all appear to be projected on the dark ground ; 
moreover, their general arrangement depends purely on oui 
point of view, and varies according as we ourselves walk 
away or across. This simple comparison may make ua 
understand why the stars, lights in the dark space, do not 
reveal to us the distances which may really separate them, 
and why their arrangement on the apparent vault of the sky 
depends only on the spot where we place ourselves to ex- 



60 Marvels of the Heavens. 

amine them. On quitting the Earth's surface and trans- 
porting ourselves to a spot sufficiently distant, we should 
witness, in the apparent arrangement of the stars, a varia- 
tion as much greater as our station of observation would 
be more distant from our previous one. For this it would 
be necessary to transport ourselves, not only to the last 
planets of our system, but beyond this system entirely, and 
to go to distances at least equal to those of the nearest stars. 
Indeed, from Neptune, the last planet of our system, the stars 
are seen in the same arrangement as from here. The change 
is only seen in quitting one star for another. One moment's 
reflection suffices to convince us of this fact, and to relieve 
us from further explanation on the subject. 

These illusions once appreciated at their right value, we 
may, without fear, begin the description of the figures with 
which old fables have constellated the spheres. The 
knowledge of the constellations is necessary for the obser- 
vation of the heavens and for researches which love of 
science or curiosity may inspire ; without it, one finds one- 
self in an unknown country without any geography or pos- 
sibility of discovering our whereabouts. Let us, then, form 
the geography of the heavens. The innumerable figures of 
animals, men, or objects, with which the sphere is adorned, 
will not, however, be drawn here, seeing that they would 
only serve to confuse the mind with imaginary lines. 
Formerly they printed celestial atlases, where the figures were 
represented with exquisite care, so much so, indeed, that 
they ended by forgetting the stars, and the sky was nothing 
more than a menagerie. In spite of the interest of the 
images, I will not follow this example. I will only give 
further on, on a special map, the drawing of the constella- 
tions visible in our hemisphere. At present, let us see how 
to direct our course for reading correctly the great book of 
the heavens. 

There is one constellation known to every one; for 
greater simplicity we will begin with it, as it will serve us 



The Sidereal World. 61 

as a starting-point to go towards the others, and as a sign 
to find its companions. This constellation is the Great Bear, 
which has also been called David's Chariot, or Charles's 
Wain ; which the ancients called Septem triones (whence 
came the word septentrion), or, again, Helix, Plaustrum ; 
which the Greeks addressed under the name of " Agytroc 
pzydXr), ikt%n, &c, which the Arabs called A Idebb al Akbar, 
and the Chinese, three thousand years ago, addressed as the 
Tcheou-pey, the god of the north. Thus it can boast of a 
high celebrity. If, however, in spite of its universal noto- 
riety, some have not yet had occasion to make its acquaint- 
ance, the following is the sign by which it may always be 
recognised. Turn towards the north, that is to say, opposite 
the spot where the Sun is at noon. Whatever may be the 
season of the year, the day of the month, or hour of the 
night, you will always see there a large constellation formed 
of seven stars, four of which are quadrilateral, and at an angle 
with the side ; the whole arranged like this : 



Fig. 14. — Constellation of the Great Bear. 

Have you not all seen it ? It never sets. Night and 
day it watches above the northern horizon, turning slowly in 
four-and-twenty hours around a star of which we shall 
speak presently. In the figure of the Great Bear, the three 
stars of the extremity form the tail, and the quadrilateral 
forms the body. In the Chariot the four stars form the 



62 Marvels of ike Heavens. 

wheels, and the three the car. Above the second between 
these latter, good sights distinguish a very small star called 
Alcor, which is also called the Cavalier. The Arabs called 
it Saidak, which means the proof, because they used it to 
test a good eye. Greek letters are used to denote each 
star ; they are the first of the alphabet ; a and 6 mark the 
two first stars, y and d the two others, s, £. »j, the three of 
the car ; Arab names have also been given to them, but I shall 
pass over them in silence, as they are not generally used. 

This brilliant septentrional constellation, composed (with 
the exception of £*) of stars of the second magnitude, has 
received from olden times the gift of captivating the attention 
of observers, and personating the stars of the north. Many 
poets have sung its praises ; we will only repeat in prose 
one, — the words being worthy of the majesty of the heavens, 
— that of Ware, the American poet, — 

' With what grand and majestic steps this northern con- 
stellation advances in its eternal circle, following its royal path 
amidst the stars with a slow and silent light ! Mighty creation, 
I worship thee ! I love to see thee wandering in the brilliant 
avenues like a splendid giant with a strong belt, — severe, inr 
defatigable, and resolute, whose feet never pause on their road. 
Other kingdoms abandon their nocturnal path and rest their 
wearied orbs under the waves ; but thou, thou never closest thy 
fiery eye, and never stoppest thy determined step. Forward, 
always forward ! whilst systems change, suns set, worlds sleep 
and awaken, thou followest thy endless way. The adjacent 
horizon endeavours to arrest thee, but in vain. A vigilant sen- 
tinel, thou never quittest thy secular path, but, without 
'allowing thyself to be overtaken by sleep, thou preservest the 
fixed lights of the universe, always preventing the north from 
forgetting its place 

' Seven stars people this bright kingdom ; the sight em- 
braces the whole ; their respective distances are not inferior tc 

* This star is variable. Two hundred years ago it was not less 
brilliant than its companions. 



The Sidereal World. 63 

their distance from the Earth. And here again we see the tre- 
mendous distance between the celestial orbs. From the depths 
of the heavens, unexplored by the mind, the piercing rays dart 
through space, revealing to the senses numberless systems and 
worlds. Our sight must arm itself with the telescope, and ex- 
plore the heavens. The heavens are opened, a rain of sparkling 
fire falls on our heads, stars appear close together, are condensed 
in such far-off regions, that their rapid rays (more rapid than any 
other thing) have travelled for centuries in order to reach the 
Earth. Earth, Sun, and nearest constellations, what are you 
amidst this infinite immensity and the multitude of divine 
infinite works?' 

These thoughts, inspired by scientific truth, are superior 
to those of ancient mythology. Without speaking of the 
name of Bear given to this constellation and the follow- 
ing one, not only by the Greeks and Latins, but again by 
other people who did not appear to have had any communi- 
cation with them, like the Iroquois who gave to them the 
same name,* we shall state that, generally, the Great and Little 

* It is a remarkable fact, and one which may be used in the his- 
tory of ancient astronomy in particular, as in that of the origin of 
people in general, that groups of stars without any characteristic 
figure have been called by the same name by the most diverse people. 
The Indians and Chinese have the same zodiacal constellations as the 
Greeks, bearing the same etymological names, and distributed in the 
same direction. The northern constellations have received the name 
of Bears with the people of High Asia, Phoenicians, Arabs, Greeks, 
and Iroquois, although the square and the tail drawn by their arrange- 
ment do not recall in any way tne bears which have no tails. In 
America the name of the ' Jawbone of an Ox ' is applied to the Hyades 
placed in the head of the Bull. With the Arabs, the constellation of 
Andromeda is a chained woman ; with the Persians, Cassiopea is on a 
chair, and Hercules kneeling ; the seven stars which we name the ' 
Pleiades, the Indians called Chickens ; in India and Persia, Perseus 
bears a head : the Brahmins have sensibly the same zodiac as we 
have; the Milky Way of the Greeks is with the Chinese the Celestial 
Eiver, to the Copts the Stubble field, to the savages of North America 
the Path of Souls, and to the inhabitants of the French provinces the 
Path of St. John. Beside the rare connexion which would strictly 
explain these designations, these coincidences remain the objects of 
great mystery. They would be in favour of the unity of a primitive 
human stock. 



64 Marvels of the Heavens, 

Bear were considered as Callisto and her dog. Jupiter had a 
son by this nymph, the cow-herd (Bootes), of whom we shall 
speak further on ; he had them both placed in the sky. But 
the official wife of the king of gods, Madame Juno, as Virgil 
has said, was greatly incensed, and obtained from Thetis, the 
ruler of the waves, that these perfidious constellations should 
never bathe in the ocean. Thus their continued presence 
above the horizon is explained. Callisto, whose car fears the 
wave of Thetis, near the ice of the north shines out near her 
eon. The Dragon embraces them like an immense wave. 
According to others, the two Bears are nymphs who fed 
Jupiter on Mount Ida ; according to others, again, they 
represented the oxen of Icarus ; but these fabulous fancies do 
not interest us more than they ought to do, and now that we 
recognise the Great Bear we must make him useful in 
our celestial voyages among the stars in his neighbourhood 
and our uranographic researches generally. 

Let us return to the figure before traced. If a 
straight line be carried through the two stars, marked a and 
j3, which form the extremity of the square, and prolonged 
beyond a to an extent equal to five times the distance from /3 
to a, or, in other words, to an extent equal to the distance of 
a to the extremity of the tail ?j, a star less brilliant than the 
preceding ones is found, which forms the extremity of a 
figure like the Great Bear, but smaller and directed in a 
contrary direction. This is the Little Bear, or Little 
Chariot, also formed of seven stars. The star to which our 
line brings us, that which is at the extremity of the Bear's 
tail, or at the end of the shaft of the Chariot is the Pole 
Star. 

The Pole Star has a certain renown, like all personages 
who distinguish themselves from others, because, among all 
the stars which twinkle in our starry nights, it remains im- 
movable in the heavens. At any moment of the year, day 
or night, if you observe the sky you will always find it occu- 
pying the same place. All the other stars, on the contrary. 



The Sidereal World. 65 

revolve round it every twenty-four hours, a hold for the 
centre of this immense whirlpool! The Pole-Star remains 
immovable over one pole of the world, whence it is used as a 

I fixed point by navigators of the pathless ocean, as well as by 
travellers in an unexplored desert. 
Of the thousand facts which I could quote to show how 
many times the Pole-Star and its constellation, always visible 
in the north, have saved the lives of travellers lost' in dark- 
ness, I shall content myself with the following, in which 
Albert Montemont honours the star of the north. 

On the 4th of April, 1799, the English General, Baird, 
then at war against Tippoo-Sa'ib, received orders to march in 



Fig. 15. Great Bear, Little Bear, Pole Star. 

the night, to observe a height on which it was supposed the 
enemy had placed an advanced post; Captain Lambton 
accompanied him as aide-de-camp. After having crossed 
this height several times, without meeting with any one, the 
General resolved to return to the camp, and he turned back, as 
it appeared to him, to the general quarters. But, as the night 
was light and the constellation of the Great Bear was near 
the meridian, Captain Lambton remarked, that, instead of 
returning south, as he must do to return to the camp, the 
division had advanced to the north, that is to say, towards 
the body of the enemy's army ; and he instantly made the 
General aware of this mistake. But this officer, who troubled 
himself very little about astronomy, replied that he knew 



66 Marvels of the Heavens. 

well enough what he was doing without consulting the stars. 
At the same instant, the detachments fell in with the enemy's 
advanced post. This surprise having confirmed the Captain's 
observation too well, they at first hastened to disperse the 
soldiers of the advanced post and then to turn back on their 
road. They procured a light, consulted a compass, and 
found, as the astronomical officer said laughingly, that the 
stars were right. 

The immobility of the Polar Star at the north, and the 
movement of the entire heavens round it, are appearances 
caused by the movement of the Earth on its axis. We will 
give the evidence further on ; but, while we are visiting the 
country of the stars, we must not leave such a beautiful sight 
to descend to the Earth. Let us then c©ntinue our mode of 
surveying, and make ample acquaintance with the population 
of the starry heavens. 



*7 



II. 

THE NORTHERN CONSTELLATIONS. 

* Aux lieux ou rayonnent des clartes eternelles 
Les cieux sont toujours purs et les nuits toujours belles, 
Ou l'Euphrate roulant ses flots au loin couverts 
De l'ombrage fleuri de palmiers toujours verts, 
Voit de feux plus puissants la nature animee 
Prodiguer le cinname et la myrrhe embaumee, 
Le pasteur de Babel en gardant ses troupeaux 
Observa le premier les celestes flambeaux ; 
Et, la nuit, promenant ses tentes egarees, 
Osa du firmament diviser les contrees.' 

CffiNEDOLLE. 

Looking at the Pole Star, stationary in the midst of the 
northern region, we have the south behind ns, the east to the 
right, the west to the left. All the stars revolving round the 
Pole Star, from right to left, ought to be recognised according 
to their mutual relations rather than according to the cardinal 
points. On the other side of the Pole Star, relating to 
the Great Bear is another constellation easily recognised. 
If a line be brought to the pole, from the star in the middle 
(d), by prolonging this line to an equal extent, the figure of 
Cassiopea is crossed, which is formed of five stars of the 
third magnitude arranged somewhat like the slanting strokes 
of the letter M. The little star x, which ends the square, also 
gives it the form of a chair. This group takes every pos- 
sible position, going round the pole ; sometimes being above, 
sometimes below, sometimes to the left, and sometimes to the 
right : but it is always easy to find, seeing that, like the 



68 Marvels of the Heavens. 

preceding constellation, it never sets and is always opposite 
to the Great Bear. The Pole Star is the axle around which 
these two constellations revolve. 

If we now draw, from the stars a and $ of the Great 
Bear, two lines joining the pole, and we prolong these 
lines beyond Oassiopea, they will lead to Pegasus, which is 
terminated on one side by a row of three stars similar 
to those of the Great Bear. These three stars belong to 
Andromeda, and themselves lead to another constellation, 




Fig. 16. Cassiopea, Andromeda, Pegasus. 

Perseus. The last star of the square of Pegasus is, as we 
have seen, a Andromedse ; the three others are called. 
y, Algenib, a, Markab, and (3, Scheat. To the north of 
j8 Andromedse is found, near a little star, v, the oblong 
nebula which has been compared to the light of a candle seen 
through a horn plate, the first nebula of which mention is 
made in the annals of astronomy. In Perseus, a, the most 
brilliant star in the prolongation of the three principal stars 
of Andromeda, is seen between two others less brilliant, 
which with it forms a concave arc very easily distinguished. 






The Northern Constellations. 69 

This arc will now serve us as a new starting-point. By 
continuing it from 8, a very brilliant star of the first magni- 
tude, is met with ; this is the Capella. Forming a right 
angle with this prolongation to the south, we arrive at the 
Pleiades, a brilliant cluster of stars. On one side is a varia- 
ble star, Algol, or the Head of Medusa. 

The star Algol or (3 Persei, which is seen above a, 
belongs to a class of variable stars, the singular character of 
which we shall consider further on. Instead of having a 
fixed light, as other stars, it is sometimes very brilliant and 
sometimes very faint ; it passes from the second to the fourth 
magnitude. It was at the end of the seventeenth century 
that this variability was first perceived. 
Observations made since that time have 
proved that it is periodical and regular, 
and that this period is of astonishing 
rapidity. Thus, to pass from its mini- 
mum to its maximum brilliancy, it only 
requires one hour and three quarters, 
so that in three hours and a half it 
has accomplished its entire cycle, has 
passed through all the intermediate 
decrees of light from the fourth to „ ■ J, „ 

. ° -i-i i p ,i ¥l S- 17. The Goat, Pleiades. 

the second magnitude, *'nd ironi the 

second to the fourth. The star £ of Perseus is double. 

These are the principal stars which people the cir- 
cumpolar regions, on the one side ; presently we shall make 
better acquaintance with them. Whilst we are tracing lines 
of indication, let us have patience and finish our short ex- 
amination of this part of the sky. Take now the opposite 
side to the one we have just considered, still near the pole. 
Let us return to the Great Bear. Prolonging the curve of 
the tail we shall find at some distance from it a star of the 
first magnitude, this is Arcturus or a of the Cow-herd (Bootes). 
A small circle of stars that we see to the left of Bootes forms 
the Northern Crown. 




70 Marvels of the Heavens. 

The constellation of Bootes is traced in a pentagonal 
form. The stars which compose it are of the third 
magnitude, with the exception of a, which is of the 
first. This is the one nearest the Earth, for it is of 
the small number. of those whose distance has been measured. 
It is situated at 1,622,800 times the radius of the Earth's 
orbit from us. It is, moreover, a .coloured star ; seen with a 
telescope, it is red. The star s, which is seen above it, is 
double, that is to say, the telescope separates it into two 
distinct stars: one being yellow, the other blue. 

By bringing a line from the Pole-Star to Arcturus, and 
erecting a perpendicular on the middle of this line, opposite to 



Fig. 18. Northern Crown, Bootes, Arcturus. 



the Great Bear, we find one of the most brilliant stars of the 
heavens, Vega, or a of the Lyre, near the Milky Way. It 
forms with the two just mentioned a large equilateral triangle. 
The line from Arcturus to Vega cuts the constellation of 
Hercules. Between the Great and Little Bear, a long series 
of little stars is seen passing round each other in rings and 
directing themselves towards Vega: these are the stars of the 
Dragon. 

The stars bordering on the pole, and which have therefore 
received the name of Circumpolar Stars, are distributed into 
the groups we have just described. Now that we easily know 
how to find them in the sky, we may speak a little of their 



The Northern Constellations. 71 

ancient renown. In this group there is one of the greatest 
dramas of ancient mythology. To repeat this famous episode 
in a few words, I will mention that Cassiopea, wife of 
Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, one day had the vanity to be- 
lieve herself more beautiful than the Nereides, in spite of 
the African colour of her complexion. These sensitive 
nymphs, piqued to the quick by such pretensions, prayed 
Neptune to avenge them of such a gigantic affront ; the god 
allowed fearful ravages to be made by a sea-monster on the 
coasts of Syria. To stay the plague, Cepheus chained his 
daughter, Andromeda, to a rock and offered her in sacrifice to 
the terrible monster. But young Perseus, touched with so 
much misfortune, quickly bestrode the horse Pegasus, a model 
of coursers, took in his hand the Medusa's head, which froze 
the beholder with fright, and started for the fatal rock. He 
arrived naturally just at the moment when the monster was 
going to devour his prey, and nothing was more easily done 
than to petrify the monster by presenting Medusa's head 
to him, and to liberate the fainting Andromeda. This is a 
scenic effect from which painting has derived advantage 
in every sense ; there are perhaps as many Andromedas 
as Ledas, and these are innumerable. It must be owned 
also that the painter has not often so captivating a subject. 
The combat of Perseus with the monster is without equal 
in history. 

' Le heros fond sur lui sans se laisser attendre, 
S'eleve, redescend, frappe encor, mais en vain. 
L'ecaille impenetrable a repousse l'airain. 
Le monstre est en fureur ; Andromede eperdue 
De cet affreux combat veut detourner la vue, 
Pousse un cri lamentable, et, levant ses beaux yeux, 
Eetrouve son vengeur qui plane dans les cieux, 
La fille de Cephee, en sa douleur mortelle, 
Pleure, fremit de crainte, et, ce n'est plus pour elle, 
Mais enfin le heros vers le monstre abhorre 
Precipite son vol, et d'un bras assure 



72 Marvels of the Heavens, 

Dans sa gueule beante enfonce cette epee 
Du sang de la Gorgone encore toute trempee. 
C'en est fait : a ses pieds revoyant son vengeur, 
Andromede a senti redoubler sa rongeur ; 
Les dieux sont satisfaits ; et pres de lui placee, 
Jusqu'au brillant Olympe elle a suivi Persee 
Par quels plus beaux exploits monte-t-on dans les cieux? 

Daru. 

In commemoration of these exploits, and not to give one 
an advantage over the other, all the family were placed in the 
heavens, and still remain there. With a little inclination, and 
knowing pretty well the conventional figures which divide 
our celestial atlas, we can see under the starry dome Cepheus 
enthroned, ciown on head and sceptre in hand; at his side his 
wife Cassiopea, seated on a chair ornamented with palms ; 
a little further on Andromeda, chained to a rock in the 
midst of an abyss ; an immense fish attacks her on one side ; 
Pegasus flying in the air a little in front ; and, lastly, the 
hero of the piece, Perseus, holding in the right hand a curved 
sword, and in the left the head with the hideous serpents. 
This is what the mythological eye may still contemplate at 
midnight during the beautiful season of summer 

Bootes is seen above the Virgin on the zodiacal map. He 
was called Areas, and was the son of Jupiter and Oallisto. 
He was also called Atlas, who carries the world, because, for- 
merly, his head was close to the pole. As the Pleiades rise 
when Bootes sets, it has also been said that they were his 
daughters. In its vicinity shines like golden rain Berenice's 
Hair. It will be remembered that 246 years before Christ, 
Queen Berenice, who made a vow to cut off her hair 
if Ptolemy Euergetes, her husband, returned victorious, con- 
secrated it to the gods in the temple of Venus, after the 
victory of the prince. Her husband was very displeased 
with this unlucky idea, and it was feared that he would 
not be able to calm his passion, the more so, as the queen's 
hair was stolen the following night ; but the astronomer 



The Koiihem Constellations. 73 

Conon assured him that the regretted hair had been trans- 
ported to the sky by order of Venus, and actually shone as 
a constellation. 

' Le mortel qui, des cieux ecartant tous les voiles, 
Calcula le lever, le coucher des etoiles, 
Conon me fit voler, par la faveur des dieux, 
Da front de Berenice a la voute des cieux. 
Humide encor des pleurs de ma reine fidele 
Je montai, nouveau signe, a la voute eteruelle ; 
Adinise entre la Vierge et le cruel Lion, 
Je guide a l'occident, en sa route incertaine, 
Le Bouvier qui vers l'aube a pas pesant se traine.' 

Catullus. 

The Hunting Dogs, or Greyhounds, are not distinguished 
by any remarkable star, but they possess the most beautiful 
nebula in the sky : that which I have before described and 
pictured (p. 35). It is situated in the left ear of Asterion, 
the northern Hunting Dog. As this left ear touches the tail 
of the Great Bear, it is easy to find it under the last star 
of the tail. To discern its form a good telescope is required. 
This is the nebula which resembles the Milky Way at a 
distance, and which was for some time considered as a 
globular cluster surrounded with a ring, until the day when 
Lord Rosse's great telescope showed it as the most mag- 
nificent spiral nebula in the heavens. 



74 Marvels of the Heavens, 



III. 

THE ZODIAC. 

* Le ciel devint un livre ou la Terre e'tcmne'e 
Lut en lettres de feu l'histoire de l'annee.' 

Eosset. 

It is known that the Sun in its apparent path above our 
heads, follows a regular and permanent course; that each 
year, at the same periods, it passes at the same height in the 
sky, and that it is not so high in the month of December 
as in the month of June ; the path it pursues is not less 
regular on that account, as it rises and falls in its circuit and 
at the same periods it always returns to the same points in the 
heavens. It is also known that the stars remain perpetually 
around the Earth, and, if they disappear in the morning, to shine 
again in the evening, it is only because the daylight effaces 
them. Now, the term zodiac is given to the starry zone 
through which the Sun passes during the entire course of the 
year. This word comes from gufaov, animal, an etymology 
taken from the character of the figures traced on this band of 
stars. Animals, indeed, predominate in these figures. The 
entire circumference of the heavens has been divided into 
twelve parts, which have been named the twelve signs of the 
zodiac, and our forefathers called them the ' houses of the Sun,' 
and again 'the monthly residences of Apollo,' because the 
Sun visits one each month, and. returns each spring to 
the commencement of the zodiacal cortege. Two Latin 



The Zodiac. 75 

verses give these twelve signs in the order in which the Sun 
crosses them, — 

' Sunt : Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, 
Libraque, Scorpius, Arcitenens, Caper, Amphora, Pisces.' 

Or rather in English : the Ram v , the Bull 8 , the Twins n , 
the Crab © , the Lion yp, the Virgin ni, the Scales *±, 
the Scorpion iT£, the Archer $ , the He-goat I? , Aquarius 
;S7, and the Fishes X . The signs placed by these names are 
the primitive indications which bring them to mind : t 1 
represents the horns of a ram ; & the head of a bull ; £? is a 
stream of water. 

If we have now become acquainted with our northern 
heavens, if its most important stars are sufficiently marked in 
our mind and their reciprocal relations with each other, we 
need no longer fear confusion, and it will be easy to recognise 
the zodiacal constellations. We must note especially that they 
all belong to one zone, to one belt of the sky, which may 
serve us as a line of division between the north and south. 
An easy method of finding this zone in a fine starry night, 
and to avoid useless search, is to take the Pole Star as the 
centre of a large circle, and to describe this circle by taking a 
radius equal to the half of the sky. The line thus described 
will extend beyond the zenith to the south, and will descend 
below the horizon to the north; it will mark therefore the 
celestial equator. Now the ecliptic, on the meridian line of the 
zodiac, is slightly inclined to the equator, but it only goes 
beyond it a little, so that our circle will give us, with sufficient 
exactitude, the line towards which we must look for our 
constellations. 

These summary indications once given, the first signs will 
be easy to find. To have a complete and lasting knowledge 
of them, it is necessary to follow the description I am going 
to give on the accompanying maps, and afterwards in the 
evening to study the originals directly, of which the maps are 



76 Marvels of the Heavens. 

only copies. These same maps will again serve us, in the 
following chapter, in studying the southern constellations 
visible in England. 

The Ram is situated between Andromeda and the Pleiades 
which we already know. By drawing a line from Andromeda 
to this group of stars the head of the Ram is traversed, 
formed by two stars of the third magnitude, arranged in a 
north-east direction. The Rani is the first sign of the 
zodiac, because, at the time when this principal part of the 
celestial sphere was established, the Sun entered this sign at 
the spring equinox. In the fable, it represents the Ram with 
the golden fleece of the Argonaut expedition, because at the 
moment when the Sun rises in this sign, guarded by a monster 
(the Whale) and by a Bull which vomits flames, the constella- 
tion Ophiuchus or Jason, comes out in the evening at the same 
point, and thus subjugates the vanished Ram. The Ram 
was also the symbol of Spring and the opening of the year. 
These two causes were indicated by the translator of Plutarch. 
The Bull comes afterwards. We go from west to east. We 
shall easily recognise it by the group of the Pleiades which 
sparkle on its shoulder, by that of the Hyades which glimmer 
on its forehead, and by the magnificent star which marks its 
right eye, the star Aldebaran, a, of the first magnitude. It is, 
moreover, situated just above the splendid constellation of 
Orion, which we shall meet again and make acquaintance 
with soon ; Aldebaran shines along the line of the Belt to the 
north-west. (To follow our map.) 

The Pleiades, which are seen trembling at the north-west 
of Aldebaran, are a group of about 80 stars, resolved by the 
telescope. 

The ancients counted in the Pleiades seven stars more 
brilliant than the ground sprinkled with golden dust. At 
the present time only six can be counted with the naked eye. 
which are called, — Alcyone or »j in the neck of the Bull, of 
the third magnitude ; Electra and Atlas, of the fourth ; 
Merope, Ma'ia and Taygeta, of the fifth. If we are to 



The Zodiac. 77 

believe Ovid, the seventh hid itself with grief at the taking of 
Troy. But the authorofthe ' Metamorphoses ' suspected nothing 
of the distance of stars and the length of passage of the rays in 
reaching us. If even one of the Pleiades hid itself at the 
taking of Troy, Ovid would still have seen it in the place 
which it formerly occupied, and perhaps even now we should 
have still seen it there. The Hyades form a V with Aldebaran, 
which occupies the southern extremity. Like the Pleiades, 




Fig. 19. The Pleiades. 

they announce rain; their name signifies to rain, and that of 
their companions signifies navigator. This inspired J.-B. 
Rousseau with the following verses: — 

' Deja le depart des Pleiades 
A fait retirer les nochers, 
Et deja les tristes Hyades 
Forcent les frileuses Drvades 
De chercher l'abri des rochers.' 



78 Marvels of the Heavens. 

The Twins are easy to recognise to the east of the pre- 
ceding stars, their heads being formed of two beautiful stars, 
Castor and Pollux. We shall also reach them by a diagonal, 
crossing the Great Bear. Again, Castor, of the first magni- 
tude, forms a triangle with the Goat and Aldebaran. There- 
fore, nothing is more easily found. Descending towards the 
Bull, eight or ten stars terminate the constellation, and lower 
down, Procyon is met with, a star of the second magnitude. 
This region, marked with Orion, Sirius, the Twins, the Goat, 
Aldebaran and the Pleiades, is the most magnificent region of 
the celestial sphere. It is towards the end of Autumn that it 
shines in our hemisphere in the evening. The Twins are, in 
the fable, Castor and Pollux, sons of Jupiter, celebrated for 
their indissoluble friendship, for which they were rewarded by 
immortality. The changes of fortune have been compared 
by the poet to the destiny of these two brothers : — 

' Jupiter lit l'homme semblable 
A ces deux Jumeaux que la Fable 
Placa jadis au rang des dieux ; 
Couple de deites bizarre, 
Tantot habitants du Tenare, 
Et tantot citoyens des cieux.' 

The Greeks also gave the name of Castor and Pollux to 
those lights which appear round vessels after storms, electrical 
phenomena now called the fires of Saint Elmo. 

The Crab or Cancer may be distinguished at the bottom of 
the line of Castor and Pollux, in five stars of the fourth or fifth 
magnitude. It is the least important body of the zodiac : — 

' La timide ecrevisse a, la serre trainante 
Annonce le retour de la saison brulante : 
Son aspect, qui pour nous borne les plus longs jours, 
Fait du char du soleil retrograder le cours.' 

While Hercules was fighting the Lion of Nemea, the Crab. 



The Zodiac. 79 

aiding the vengeance of Juno, pinched the heel of the hero, 
who crushed it with his foot, but the queen of heaven gave 
it its reward by placing it in the heavens. 

The Lion is a large trapezium of four beautiful stars, 
situated to the east of the Twins. They may readily be found 
by continuing in the opposite direction the line, from a, /3 of 
the Great Bear, which served us to find the Pole Star. The 
most brilliant of these stars, a, is of the first magnitude and is 
called Regulus, the heart of the Lion ; the three others, /?, y, 
and d are of the second magnitude. The Sun enters the 
Lion at the summer solstice, and causes it to disappear by 
covering it with his fires; this is the victory of Hercules 
over the Lion of Nemea. It was also for the same cause the 
symbol of strength and power. Being the abode of the Sun 
during the month of July, it was again the sign of burning 
heats and of plagues which they sometimes brought with 
them. In the eyes of astrologers of the middle ages, this 
was its terrible aspect. The Virgin comes after the Lion, 
still to the east, as will be seen on the map. If we again 
use the very accommodating constellation which has until 
now been so useful to us, we must continue towards the 
south the great diagonal a, y from the square of the Great 
Bear, and we shall meet with a beautiful star of the first 
magnitude placed just to the left of our figure ; this is the 
Virgin's ear of corn, or Spica, a star known from all an- 
tiquity. Now that we can distinguish Arcturus, or Bootes 
(p. 70), and a of the Lion, we may also remark, that these 
two stars and Spica form together an equilateral triangle. 
The star /3, situated in the right arm of the Virgin, is called 
the Vintager. It forms a triangle with /3 of the Lion and 
Berenice's hair. 

Emblem of justice and law, the Virgin represents 
Themis, with the scales at her feet. Why has she wings ? 
Perhaps because Justice, formerly on the earth, abandoned 
it for heaven. She is also Astrea, daughter of Jupiter and 
Themis, men's crimes having forced her to return to heaven 



80 Marvels of the Heavens. 

at the end of the golden age. She has the privilege of 
representing a great number of persons; the entire list 
would be too long, the following being only a few of 
them : Ceres, symbol of harvests ; Diana of Ephesus ; Isis of 
Egypt, goddess of Syria ; Atergatis or Fortune ; Cybele 
drawn by lions; Minerva, mo* her of Bacchus; Medusa; 
Erigona, daughter of the Cow-herd ; lastly, in the time of 
Virgil, she was the Sybil, who, with branch in hand, 
descended to the infernal regions. With so large a choice, 
she seems to have preferred the title of Daughter of Justice, 
exiled to the celestial regions by man's crimes. 

The Scales is the seventh sign of the zodiac. To the 
east of Spica, two stars of the second magnitude are seen ; 
these are a and 13, marking the top of the Scales. With 
two other less brilliant stars, they form an oblique square on 
the ecliptic. Two thousand years ago, the Sun passed them 
at the autumnal equinox, and this is the origin of that sign 
which ' equals the day to night, work to sleep.' 

J.-B. Rousseau expresses the same idea in one of his 
odes : — 

' Le soleil, dont la violence 
Nous a fait languir si longtemps, 
Arme de feux moins eclatants 
Les rayons que son char nous lance, 
Et, plus paisible dans son cours, 
Laisse la celeste Balance 
Arbitre des nuits et des jours.' 

The Scorpion, with its heart marked by the brilliant 
Antares, a star of the first magnitude, is easily recognised. 
It is not that the form can be distinguished ; for this form is 
not better sketched out by the stars which compose it, than 
the preceding figures, the Scales, the Virgin, &c. have been. 
But it is well understood that, when we speak of recognising 
a constellation, we refer simply to the groups of stars which 



The Zodiac. 81 

bear its name and not to its mythological figure. An tares, a 
of the Scorpion, is on the continuation of the line which 
would join Regulus (a of the Lion) to Spica ; these are 
three stars of the first magnitude placed in a straight line, in 
a west-east direction. Antares also forms with Lyra and 
Arcturus a large isosceles triangle, the latter star being at 
the vertex. The second star of the Scorpion, /3, of the second 
magnitude, marks the head. A string of stars of the third 
magnitude traces out the curved tail. 

The Scales and Scorpion only formed one sign with the 
Latins before Augustus : the Scales were then the claws of 
the Scorpion. As Augustus was born on the 23rd of Sep- 
tember, flattery leagued itself with astrology to celebrate the 
happiness promised to the Earth by the birth of this emperor ; 
the Scales, which the Egyptians had formerly instituted in the 
original sphere, were replaced in the heavens as a symbol of 
Justice. 

The verses of the Eneid may now be easily interpreted. 
As a sign of misfortune and fear, the Scorpion was cursed 
among all the constellations. It was said, especially, that 
it had an invincible hatred towards Orion, because this 
figure sets when the former rises, and vice versa. It was not 
only the terror of the stars, but also the terror of the Sun 
himself, that Ovid has described it to us. 

Sagittarius (the Archer), forming an oblique trapezium, 
is a little to the east of Antares, still following the direction 
of the ecliptic. It only contains stars of the third and less 
magnitudes ; a, d, y, form the arrow ; the last, y, is called 
Nushaba by the Arabs. The star it marks the head. This 
constellation never rises much above the horizon of London 
In the fable, it is the Centaur Chiron, the tutor of Achilles, 
Jason, and Esculapius, and the inventor of the art of riding. 
This was the last lord of this ancient race. Doubtless, the 
vicinity of the Scorpion influenced the opinion of the poets 
with regard to itself, for it is not represented under very 
favourable colours. 



82 Marvels of the Heavens, 

' Deja du haut des cieux le cruel Sagittaire 
Avait tendu son arc et ravage la terre ; 
Les coteaux, et les champs, et les pres defleuris, 
N'offraient de toutes parts que de vastes debris ; 
Novembre avait compte sa premiere journee.' 

Capricornus (the He-goat) is not rich in bright stars. 
Those which sparkle on his forehead, a and /3, are the only 
ones which can be distinguished by the naked eye. They 
are on the continuation of the line which passes from Lyra to 
the Eagle. The region of the Zodiac which we are now 
visiting is the poorest in the heavens ; it presents a striking 
contrast with the opposite region, where we admired Alde- 
baran, Castor and Pollux, the Goat, &c. 

Above Capricornus shines Altair, or a of the Eagle : 
the stars of Antinous form a trapezium on the path from 
Capricornus to the Eagle. In some authors, this sign 
represents the goat Amalthea, which nursed Jupiter on 
Mount Ida, and received a place in heaven as a reward. 
According to others, it represents the return of the Sun to 
the winter solstice through the gates of the tropics. Again, 
according to others, it was a he-goat which was brought up 
with the king of the gods, and which discovered and sounded 
the marine trumpet, and produced fear among the Titans in 
their war with Olympus. The frightened gods hid themselves 
in the forms of different animals ; Apollo changed into a 
crane, Mercury into an ibis, Diana into a cat. Such a meta- 
morphosis was never seen. Lastly, Pan into Capricornus, 
having a goat's body and the tail of a fish. He appeared, 
also, to wish to steal away with the giants who scaled 
heaven. 

Aquarius forms with his three tertiary stars a very obtuse 
triangle. The base is prolonged in a string of stars from the 
side of Capricornus and towards the left to the Urn. Thence 
begins a sinuous line of very small stars descending to 
the horizon. This is the water poured out by Aquarius. 



The Zodiac. 83 

Aquarius appears to personify Ganymede, who was raised 
by Jupiter's eagle to serve as cupbearer to the gods after the 
fall of Hebe. 

1 Jupiter, qui d'Hebe prononce la disgrace, 
Au jeune Ganymede a destine sa place ; 
Le nouvel echanson, hote digne des cieux, 
De torrents de nectar enivre tous les dieux.' 

The Fishes, the last sign of the Zodiac, lie to the south of 
Andromeda and Pegasus. The northern fish is that which 
wished to devour Andromeda ; the western fish advances in 
the square of Pegasus ; they are bound together by a band. 
Not so apparent as the preceding, this constellation is com- 
posed of two rows of very small stars, which start from a of 
the third magnitude, the knot of the band, and diverge, one 
towards a of Andromeda, the other towards a of Aquarius. 
Ovid tells how Venus and Love, wishing to steal away at the 
pursuit of the giants, crossed the Euphrates on two fishes, 
which were for this placed in heaven. It is related that 
two fishes having found an egg of a very beautiful shape, 
drew it to shore, that a dove sat on it, and Venus came forth. 
It was from this time that the Syrians abstained from feeding 
themselves on fish. This sign is the last abode of the Sun before 
the renewing of the year, in the month of February ; this was 
the time of the inundation of Egypt and that of fishing with 
us. It closes the circle of the zodiacal constellations. 

* Enfin aux derniers rangs paraissent les Poissons, 
Qui, fermant a la fois et rouvrant les saisons, 
De l'hiver rigoreux temperent 1'influence, 
Et d'un nouveau printernps raniment l'esperance.' 

Eicard. 

If our descriptions have been well followed on our map, 
the zodiacal constellations will be as well known as those of the 
north. Little now remains before we become familiar with the 



84 Marvels of the Heavens, 

whole heavens, yet there is an indispensable complement to the 
preceding. The circumpolar stars are always visible above 
the London horizon ; at any time of the year that we wish to 
observe them, they may always be found, either above, below, 
or on one side or the other of the Pole Star, which has served 
us to find them, and always preserving the same relation one 
with the other. The zodiacal stars do not resemble them in this 
point of view ; for they are sometimes above the horizon and 
sometimes below it. We must, therefore, know at what time 
they are visible. For this it will be sufficient to remember 
the constellation which is at the centre of the heavens at 
nine o'clock in the evening, on the first day of every month, 
that, for instance, which at that hour crosses a line drawn 
from the Pole Star, from north to south, dividing the sky 
into two parts. This line is called the meridian, and all onr 
figures cross it, passing from east to west. Marking each of the 
constellations which pass at the indicated hour, we thus give 
the centre of the visible constellations. Looking for the 
northern ones at the north ; to its left those which precede 
the indicated constellation in the order of the signs ; to its right 
those which follow it, all will be found without difficulty. 
On the first of January the Bull passes the meridian. Notice 
Aldebaran and the Pleiades. — 1st of February : the Twins have 
not yet reached there, they are seen a little to the right. — 1st 
of March : Castor and Pollux have passed, Procyon at the 
south ; the little stars of the Crab to the right. — 1st of April : 
the Lion, Regulus. — 1st of May : 13 of the Lion, Berenice's 
Hair. — 1st of June: Spica of the Virgin, Arcturus. — 1st of 
July: the Scales, the Scorpion. — 1st of August: Antares, 
Ophiuchus. — 1st of September: Sagittarius, the Eagle. — 
1st of October: Capricornus, Aquarius. — 1st of November: 
the Fishes, Algenib or -^ of Pegasus. — 1st of December : the 
Ram. 

Our general revision of the starry heavens ought now to 
be completed by the stars of the Southern sky. 

I have only given a rapid summary of the mythological 



The Zodiac. 85 

explanation of the signs of the Zodiac ; the uncertainty which 
reigns over their origin has allowed many to be suggested. 
I shall only recount here, that which supposed them to be 
the twelve labours of Hercules, a suggestion which does not 
lack a certain ingenuity. Hercules would be no other than 
the Sun himself considered in his attributes relatively to the 
different times of the year. Francoeur, in his Uranographie, 
according to Lalande and the philosopher Dupuis, charged 
himself with supporting this curious s\stem. 

The entrance of the Sun into the solstitial Lion which he 
made to disappear by covering it with his fires, is the victory 
over the Lion of Nemea. In proportion as the Sun advances 
he crosses Cancer, the Lion, and the Virgin; the different 
parts of the Hydra are eclipsed by turn ; first the head, then the 
body, and lastly the tail ; but then the head reappears in its 
heliacal rising. This is the triumph over the Hydra rising 
again from the Lake Lerna, which Hercules burned, after 
having crushed the Crab which aided it. The Sun cross- 
ing the Scales at the time of the vintages covers the Centaur 
with his fires. The fable states that the Centaur Chiron, 
having received Hercules, taught him the art of making 
wine. It adds that, in a drunken dispute, the people of the 
Centaurs wished to kill Hercules' host, which forced the hero 
to fight with them ; this appears to relate to the setting of 
Sagittarius in the evening. Lastly, in hunting, he conquered 
a monster, called the wild boar of Erymanthus, which was 
believed to refer to the rising of the Great Bear in the 
evening. 

Cassiopea, who is represented also by a hind, in the 
morning sets in the waves when the Sun is in Scorpion, 
which happens at the autumnal equinox ; it is this hind 
with golden horns which, in spite of its wonderful velocity, 
Hercules tired out in a race, and caught at the water's edge 
when she reposed. 

At the rising of the Sun in Sagittarius, the Eagle, Lyra 
(or the Vulture), and the Swan situated in the Milky Way. 



86 Marvels of the Heavens. 

disappear at once ; these are the birds of the Lake Stym- 
phalis, driven out of Arcadia by Hercules, whose arrow is 
placed among them. Capricornus, or the celestial He-goat, 
is bathed in front by the water of Aquarius ; these are 
the stables of Augias cleansed by a river passing through 
them. 

The Sun in Aquarius, or the winter solstice, was near 
Pegasus ; in the evening the Vulture was seen to set, whilst 
the Bull passed the meridian ; it was said that Hercules, on 
his arrival in Elis, to fight the Bull of Crete and the 
Vulture of Prometheus, mounted the horse Arion and in- 
stituted the Olympic Games, which are celebrated at full moon 
of the summer solstice; the moon is then exactly in Aquarius, 
that is to say, in the region opposite to the Lion. The carry- 
ing off of the mares of Diomedes, son of Aristes, relates to the 
heliacal rising of Pegasus and the Little Horse, the Sun being 
in the Fishes. These two Horses are placed above Aquarius, 
which is Aristes. 

Hercules afterwards starts for the conquest of the Golden 
Fleece, Aquarius and Serpentarius rise in the evening, whilst 
at the same time the Ram, Cassiopea, Andromeda, the 
Pleiades, and Pegasus set. Hence the victory of Hercules 
over Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, whose belt (Mirach) 
shines with a bright light. Many of these warriors had the 
names of the Pleiades. 

At the rising of the Bull, the cow-herd (Bootes) sets, and 
the Great Bear (the oxen of Icarus) rises. This is the defeat 
of Geryon and the carrying off of his oxen. Hercules kills 
Busiris, persecutor of the Atlantides : the fable which alludes 
to Orion pursuing the Hyades, and who is then hidden in the 
solar beams. The return of Spring is moreover explained by 
the destruction of the venomous reptiles of Crete and by the 
defeat of the brigand Cacus ; that of the river Achelaus, 
changed into a bull, relates to Eridanus, which is situated 
below. 

After having founded Thebes in Egypt, Hercules went to 



The Zodiac. 87 

the infernal regions, delivered Theseus and carried off Cer- 
berus. The Sun has arrived in the northern hemisphere ; 
the Great Dog, whose heliacal setting took place in the pre- 
ceding sign, is now absorbed in the Sun's brightness ; he is 
taken from the infernal regions, and brought to the light. The 
river of Aquarius, which rises in the -evening with the Swan, 
when the Sun has traversed the constellation of the Twins, is 
Cycnus conquered at the borders of Penea. 

The Northern Dragon and Cepheus, or the garden of 
Hesperides, rise at the setting of the Sun, under Cancer; 
hence the voyage of Hercules in Hesperia. The time of the 
heliacal rising of the constellation of Hercules is in autumn : 
the apples of the Hesperides are an allusion to this season. 

Returned to the summer solstice, the Sun recommences 
its revolution : this is the apotheosis of Hercules. Fable re- 
lates that Dejanira, seeking for a love-potion to keep her 
husband, sent him a shirt soaked in the blood of the Centaur 
Nessus. Hercules put it on to sacrifice to the gods, and 
to ask of them the immortality promised for his exploits: 
but, devoured by the poison in the garment, the hero 
burnt himself on the funeral pile. This is the sense of this 
fable. The Sun has entered the Lion and rises, whilst the 
constellations Hercules and Aquarius are about to set. The 
Centaur sets a little after the Lion ; this one then causes 
Hercules to die, and Aquarius, Ganymede, is carried off 
to pour out nectar to the gods, in the place of Hebe, given to 
the hero. The reconciliation of Hercules and Juno relates to 
Aquarius, who is dedicated to the goddess. 

Hercules lived 52 years, had 52 wives and accorded the 
Nemean honours to 360 of his companions who died for 
him : this alludes to the 52 weeks of the year and to the 360 
degrees of the Zodiac. The Pillars of Hercules were the 
western limits of the known Earth, where the Sun seemed 
each day to set in the sea. 

However vague many of the interpretations just put 
forth may seem to be, adds Francceur, there are some so 



88 Marvels of the Heavens. 

remarkable that they cannot be supposed to be altogether 
the effect of chance : thus Hercules was not a hero whose 
good actions excited men to erect altars to him; but the 
Sun, considered in his attributes relative to the different 
epochs of the year; an opinion agreeing with the most 
revered testimonies of the ancients. 



4tf 



IV. 

THE SOUTHERN CONSTELLATIONS. 

' Qui done sur l'Oce*an, dans 1'ombre et le silence, 
Eleve avec orgueil son front majestueux ; 
Et, bravant de Phoebe le disque lumineux, 
Devant son trone meme insulte a sa puissance ? 

* C'est toi, noble Orion: tes feux etincelants 
Des soleils de la nuit effacent la lumiere, 
Comme le dieu du jour, entrant dans la carriere, 
Efface de Phoebe les rayons palissants. 

' Sur le trone des airs fais briller la couronne ; 
"Viens, heros indompte, regner sur nos climats, 
Leve-toi ! que nos yeux attaches a tes pas 
Contemplent a loisir l'eclat qui t'environne. 

' Percant des sombres mers les nocturnes brouillards 
Sous l'orgueilleux fardeau de ta pesante armure, 
Je te vois deployer ta superbe ceinture 
Et de l'homme etonne commander les regards. 

•Le Taureau loin de toi recule epouvante : 
II rouie avec effroi sa prunelle sanglante; 
Tandis que vers le nord s'enfuit l'Ourse trprablante 
Aux eclairs mena9ants de ton glaive irrite.'* 

1 A tout seigreur tout honneur.' Orion is the most beautiful 
constellation ; we must not pass it without doing homage 
tc it, and tha best way of rendering homage to persons 
of worth, is to learn how to understand them. 

Let us observe our map : below the Bull and the Twins, 
to the south of the Zodiac, you will notice this giant 

* Newland, quoted by Quetelet in his Astronomy. 



90 Marvels of the Heavens. 

who raises his club towards the forehead of the Bull. 
Seven bright stars are distinguished ; two of them, a and ft 
are of the first magnitude ; the other five are of the second ; 
a and 7 mark the shoulders, % the right knee, /3 the left 
foot; 8, s, £ mark the belt; below this line is a luminous 
train of three stars close together, this is the Sword. Between 
the western shoulder, 7, and the Bull, is seen the Shield com- 
posed of a curved string of little stars. The head is marked 
by a little star, X of the fourth magnitude ; & and v denote 
the raised arm. 




Fig. 20. — Orion, Aldebaran, Sirius. 

For more clearness, we give the arrangement of the prin- 
cipal stars of this magnificent asterism. 

Orion is on the continuation of the line which joins the 
Pole Star to Capella. The four stars, a, 7, ft %, occupy the 
angles of a great quadrilateral; the three others d, s, £ are 
close together in an oblique line in the middle of this quadri- 
lateral ; a, in the north-east angle is called Betelgeuse (not 
Beteigeuse, as generally printed), ft of the south-west angle, 
is called Rigel. 

The line of the Belt, prolonged on both sides, passes 
on the north-west by the star Aldebaran in the eye of the 



The Southern Constellations. 9i 

Bull, which we already know, and on the south-east by 
Sirius, the most beautiful star in the heavens, with which we 
small soon occupy ourselves. It is during fine winter nights 
that this constellation shines over our heads. No other 
season is so magnificently constellated as the winter months. 
Whilst nature deprives us of certain enjoyments on the one 
hand, it presents us with others no less precious. The 
wonders of the heavens present themselves to amateurs from 
the Bull and Orion at the east, as far as the Virgin and 
Bootes at the west ; of eighteen stars of the first magnitude, 
which may be counted in the whole extent of the firmament, 
a dozen are visible at nine o'clock in the evening, not count- 
ing many beautiful stars of the second order and the remark- 
able nebulae and heavenly objects very worthy of the atten- 
tion of mortals. These twelve stars are : Sirius, Procyon, 
Capella, Aldebaran, Spica, the heart of the Hydra, 
Eigel, Betelgeuse, Castor and Pollux, Regulus, and /3 of the 
Lion. 

Thus it is that nature establishes everywhere harmonious 
compensation, and whilst it darkens our short and frosty 
winter days, it gives us long nights enriched with the 
wealthiest creations of the heavens. 

The constellation of Orion is not only the richest in bright 
stars, but it conceals also treasures for the initiated which no 
other can present. We might almost call it the California of 
the heavens. We will enumerate its riches, and shall then 
find greater delight in contemplating it in the heavens. 

Let us speak first of its nebula, situated below the second 
star of the Belt. The first time that Huygens, its discoverer, 
admired this cosmical beauty, in 1656, he was sufficiently 
astonished to say, that it seemed an opening in the sky 
which threw light on a more brilliant region. ' Astronomers,' 
he states, ' have counted in the sword of Orion three stars 
very near each other. In 1656, I accidentally observed that, 
in place of one of these stars which occupy the centre of the 
group, there was a dozen of them, a result which is not rare 



92 Marvels of the Heavens, 

to obtain with telescopes. Of these stars there were three 
which, like the first, nearly touched each other, and four 
others seemed to shine through a cloud in such a manner 
that the space which surrounded them appeared much more 
luminous than the rest.' 

Since that period this nebula has been studied with a 
kind of predilection ; it has been minutely examined and the 
different regions of its cluster have been studied and de- 
scribed in all their details. In proportion as the instruments 
have become more powerful, the stars, which constellate it, 
appear more numerous, which has happened in all telescopic 
observations of nebulae ; and. whilst in early days it was asked 
with great uncertainty if there was only a phosphorescent 
cloud, a vaporous mass — astronomers afterwards arrived at 
the conviction that it was formed of an immense number of 
heaped-up suns, and then again that it was a true cosmical 
cloud. At the centre is seen a brighter part of singular 
form ; Sir J. Herschel compared it to the head of a monstrous 
animal, with gaping mouth, the nose being prolonged like 
the trunk of an elephant. 

It occupies a large space in the sky, its apparent dimen- 
sion being equal to that of the lunar disc. When we think 
of the distance which separates us from this agglomeration, 
we are dismayed at the real extent which it embraces in the 
midst of the boundless void. 

But the strangest phenomena which are attached to this 
nebula are the changes which are observed in it. The 
drawings which are now taken differ from those which were 
taken half a century ago. Again this year (1867), there has 
been noticed in England an indication of brightness, through 
a dark portion, which did not exist ten years ago. Astro- 
nomers agree that there is no possible delusion in some of 
these observations, and that this distant agglomeration is 
the seat of formidable disturbances. 

* The general impression that I have received from these 
observations,' said the director of the Russian Observatory 



The Soldi tern Constellations. 93 

not long ago, ' is that the central part of the nebula 
is in a state of continual agitation, like the surface of the sea.' 

Orion possesses many other riches. The star of the left 
foot, Rigel, is one of the most beautiful double stars. (We 
shall soon commence this chapter of Sidereal Astronomy.) 
This double star is composed of a white and a blue sun. 
In calm and clear nights which we sometimes have in the 
winter, it appeared to me sometimes that the reflection of 
the blue star tinted the brightness of the white sufficiently to 
cause this to seem slightly tinted with blue, especially when 
it is compared with the golden points which sprinkle the 
surrounding sky. 

Two other binary systems are met with in the two stars 
at the extremities of the Belt. The first to the right is 
composed of a white and a purple sun ; the second, of a 
yellow and a blue sun. Thus here are three systems of the 
most dissimilar worlds united in the same constellation. In 
each of these systems two suns instead of one ; not only two 
suns like ours, but two differently coloured suns ; in the 
planets which belong to the first, a white and a blue body 
dispute the empire of the day with each other, giving rise, 
by the numberless combinations of their heat, light, and 
electrical power, to a variety of actions incomparable and 
unimaginable by us, who are devoted to one sun. In the 
planets which belong to the second, it is a purple sun which 
diversifies the white light of its compeer. In that of the 
third the number of colours is essentially different from ours, 
as there is no white light the generator of every tint ; and 
presents an unknown series of shades, the result of the com- 
binations of gold and sapphire. These planets are doubtless 
green, and the colour of the objects on their surface must 
probably oscillate round this medium either as yellow or 
blue. 

But this wealth of stellar systems does not yet constitute 
all the patrimony of this beautiful constellation of Orion. 
It contains, besides, the most complex of multiple systems 



94 Marvels of the Heavens. 

which have ever been met with in the heavens. In the 
nebula of which I have just spoken, an extraordinary star is 
met with, the star marked 8 in the catalogues, a little below 
the Sword. This star, divided by the telescope, presents to 
our admiration six suns collected in one point of the heavens. 
Fourprincipal stars of the fourth, sixth, and seventh magnitudes, 
are arranged at the four angles of a trapezium ; the two stars at 
the base have each a very feeble companion. That these six 
stars form in reality a physical system and that they are 
connected together, like the binary systems, by the law of 
attraction, is a statement I do not wish to affirm. It may be that 
this is only an optical effect — that these six stars are in reality 
completely independent of each other, situated at immense 
distances and depths, but, being on the line of sight very near 
together, they appear to us collected on one plane. Never- 
theless, there are probabilities in favour of the opinion which 
considers this sextuple star as an actual system, especially 
when we see that the movement belonging to the principal 
star is shared by the five others. 

Another star in Orion, the twenty-third, is equally 
remarkable, being double, and instead of having its principal 
white and its small one blue, as in the generality of cases, it 
is the contrary that is noticed. 

This is a great deal for one constellation ; but for this 
beautiful and ancient figure, about which Job sang three 
thousand years ago, I have a sympathy for which I cannot 
and will not defend myself. Between the Pleiades and the 
beautiful Sirius, it presents to me a magnificent celestial 
region, enriched with varied worlds, which makes one dream 
of distant life. Between ourselves, I read an astrological 
treatise of the middle ages : its title was ' Flamma Orionis.' 
Since that time this name is dear to me : I love it ! Now, 
you know what happiness it is to lovers to speak continually 
of the object of their devotions. Following its course, like 
the Sun, and the planets, and zodiacal constellations, the 
Moon sometimes passes near Orion. It then hides the 



The Southern Constellations, 95 

stars over which its path conducts it. In speaking of 
Orion, the American poet, Longfellow, has pictured this 
occultation in bright colours : — 

1 Sirius was rising in the east, 
And, slow ascending one by one, 
The kindling constellations shone. 
Begirt with many a blazing star, 
Stood the great giant Algebar, 
Orion, hunter of the beast ! 
.His sword hung gleaming by his side, 
And, on his arm, the lion's hide 
Scattered across the midnight air 
The golden radiance of its hair. 
The moon was pallid, but not faint, 
And beautiful as some fair saint 
Serenely moving on her way 
In hours of trial and dismay, 
As if she heard the voice of God. 
Unharmed, with naked feet she trod 
Upon the hot and burning stars, 
As on the glowing coals and bars 
That were to prove her strength, and try 
Her holiness and her purity. 

4 Thus moving on with silent pace, 
And triumph in her sweet, pale face, 
She reached the station of Orion. 
Aghast he stood, in strange alarm ! 
And, suddenly, from his outstretched arm, 
Down fell the red skin of the Lion 
Into the river at his feet. 
His mighty club no longer beat 
The forehead of the Bull ; but he 
Reeled as of yore beside the sea, 
When, blinded by (Enopion, 
He sought the blacksmith at his forge, 
And, climbing up the mountain -gorge, 
Fixed his blank eyes upon the Sun.' 



96 Marvels of the Heavens. 

In the fable, Orion, the handsomest man of his time, was 
of such high stature, that when he walked on the bottom 
of the sea, his head exceeded the height of the waves ; which 
means that this constellation is half beneath the equator and 
half above. 

I have forgotten to add, that the three oblique stars 
which form his belt have been named the Three Magi 
Kings, Jacob's staff, and that in France we simply distin- 
guish them under the name of the Rake. 

'To the south-east of Orion, on the line of the Three 
Kings, shines the most magnificent of all stars, Sirius, or a 
of the constellation of the Great Dog. This star of the first 
magnitude marks the upper eastern angle of a great quadri- 
lateral, whose base reaches the London horizon, and is adjacent 
to a triangle. The stars of the quadrilateral and the triangle 
are all of the second magnitude. This constellation rises in 
the evening, at the end of November, passes the meridian at 
the end of January, and sets at the end of March. 

Sirius being the most brilliant star of the heavens, and 
astronomers daring to attempt operations relative to the 
study of the distances of stars, this attracted their attention. 
After long and minute study they succeeded in determining 
its distance; 1,375,000 times the distance of the Sun. To 
traverse the distance from the Earth to this star, light takes 
nearly twenty-two years. Hence, it follows that, when we see 
it, it is not the Sirius of to-day which is before our eyes but 
rather the Sirius of twenty-two years ago ; the ray of light 
which reaches our eye now left Sirius during the year 1848. 

The name we now give to a of the Great Dog formerly 
belonged to the whole constellation, and not a single Egyptian 
monument is found where this figure is indicated without its 
representing Sirius, a name derived from Osiris, the Sun. At 
the time the constellation was formed, the summer solstice 
happened when the Sun crossed Oapricornus ; the rising of 
Sirius announced to Egypt the time of the overflowing of the 
Nile, and like a faithful dog warned men to be on their 



The Southern Constellations. 97 

guard. The role of Sirius did not stop here. The civil year 
of the Egyptians being exactly 305 days, and their kings 
swearing never to allow the intercalation of supplementary 
days, this year advanced a day every four years on the solar 
year, and again coincided with it at the end of 365 times four 
years — in 1460 years ; but during this time the civil periods, 
agricultural labours, fetes, and the different parts of the 
calendar, could not be fixed by unchangeable dates. They 
therefore chose a si.^n in the heavens which announced the 
period of the solstice ; the rising of Sirius in the morning, 
which was then called Sothis, announced the desired epoch. 
The heliacal (solar) rising of this star only happened on the 
same day after 1461 years. 

Since those ancient days, a movement of the Earth which 
slowly modifies the path of the Sun among the constellations, 
which is called ' the precession of the equinoxes,' has deprived 
Sirius of its faculty of predicting the inundation and the 
solstice; its heliacal rising happens in Egypt now on the 
10th of August instead of the 20th of June. But at the 
beginning of our era, it took place in July, in the midst of the 
great heats and the diseases they engender. Hence, this con- 
stellation was accused of a malignant influence, as may be 
seen in Sophocles and a hundred other more modern authors ; 
it gives fever to men and madness to dogs. The term dog- 
days is derived from this. In order to conciliate Sirius, they 
raised altars on which were sacrificed the quail and the goat. 
They dreaded the star of the south. 

' Jam rapidus torrens sitientes Sirius Indos 
Ardebat.' — Georgics, iv. 425. 

4 Sirius ardor ; 
Ille sitim morbosque ferens mortalibus segris 
Nascitur, et lsevo contristat lumine coelum.' — ^Eneid, x. 273. 

Sirius, or the Dog-star, was also called the Dog of Procris, 
wife of Oephalus, who pierced her with an arrow shot acci- 
dentally, as Ovid relates at great length. Jean- Baptists 



98 Marvels of the Heavens, 

Rousseau, who sometimes liked to parade his astronomical 
knowledge, has not quite succeeded, in speaking in our time 
of the burning Sirius in an ode to the Abbe Chaulieu ; it is 
charming nevertheless : 

'Mais aujourd'hui qu'en nos plaines 
Le Chien brulant de Procris 
De Flore aux douces haleines 
Desseche les dons cheris, 

' Veux-tu d'un astre perfide 
Kisquer les apres chaleurs, 
Et, dans ton jardin aride, 
Secher ainsi que tes fleurs ? ' 

Sirius has a long and good reputation as a dog. After 
all the services which he had rendered to the Egyptians, 
Jupiter charged him with the care of his dear Europa ; after 
the carrying off, he passed through the hands of Minos, 
Procris, Cephalus, and Aurora. Well-known authors even 
think that, in spite of all that precedes, he was Cerberus, the 
dog with three heads ; their opinion is supported by this 
coincidence, that the Great Dog guards at the equator the 
lower hemisphere of the Egyptians, in the same manner as 
Cerberus watched the region of Tartarus. It is seen that this 
dog claims a very ancient nobility. No heraldic title can 
boast of such antiquity. 

The Little Dog, or Procyon, which we have already 
seen on our zodiacal maps, is above Sirius and below the 
twins, Castor and Pollux, to the east of Orion. No bright 
star distinguishes it, unless it be a. From a mythological 
point of view, it shares with the Great Dog most of the fables 
attributed to the latter. 

The Hydra is a long constellation which occupies that 
quarter of the horizon, under the Crab, Lion, and Virgin. 
The head, formed by four stars - of the fourth magnitude, is 
to the left of Procyon, on a line drawn by this star and 
Betelgeuse. The western side of the great trapezium of the 



The Southern Constellations. 99 

Lion, like the line joining Castor and Pollux, is directed to a, 
of the second magnitude : it is the heart of the Hydra. On the 
back of the Hydra, stars of the second order may be noticed, 
the Raven and the Cup. Being like a river in its meanderings, 
the Hydra has been regarded as an inhabitant of the Nile and 
its representative. As the ship Argo is not far from here, some 
have even gone so far as to explain by certain aspects the 
deluge of Deucalion, who escapes in a vessel, and who, forty 
days after, makes certain that the waters have retired by 
sending forth a raven. 

Eridanus, the Whale, the Southern Fish, and the Centaur 
are the only important constellations we still have to describe. 
They will be found in the order indicated, to the right of 
Orion. Eridanus is a river composed of a series of stars of the 
third and fourth magnitude, which descends and winds from 
Orion's left foot to Rigel, being lost under the horizon. 
After having followed long windings, invisible to us, it is 
terminated by a beautiful star of the first magnitude, a 
or Achernar. This was the river into which Phaeton, who 
awkwardly conducted the car of the Sun, fell : it was placed 
in heaven to console Apollo for the loss of his son. 

' Nevertheless Phaeton, his hair on fire, falls from the height oi 
heaven, and leaves behind him a long train ot flame. - Eridanus, 
who flows in distant parts of the country, and had seen the birth 
of this unfortunate prince, received him in his waves, and 
washed his face, which was covered with foam.' 

Below the Ram, a star of the second magnitude is met 
with, which forms an equilateral triangle with the Ram and 
the Pleiades : this is a, or the jawbone of the Whale ; a, /a, g 
and y form a parallelogram — this is the head. The base, a, 
y, is prolonged to a star of the third magnitude, d, and to a 
star of the Neck marked o. This star is one of the most 
curious in the heavens ; it is called the Marvellous, Mira 
Ceti. It belongs to the class of variable stars. Sometimes 
*t equals in brightness stars of the first order, at others it 



100 Marvels of the Heavens. 

becomes completely invisible. Its variations have been 
watcbed since the end of the sixteenth century, and it has 
been noticed that the period of increase and decrease is in the 
mean 331 days, but always irregular, being sometimes 25 
days behind or 25 days in advance. The study of these 
variable stars will present curious phenomena to us. 

The Whale was sent by Neptune to devour Andromeda, 
I shall not return to the history of this poor princess. 

Four stars of the third magnitude form the tail of this 
cotacean and descend towards Fomalhaut, or a of the Southern 
Fish, which receives water from Aquarius. This asterism 
rises very little above the horizon of London. 

Lastly, the constellation of the Centaur is situated below 
Spica of the Virgin. The star Q, of the second magnitude, 
and the star /, of the third, mark the head and shoulder : this 
is the only part of the figure which rises above the horizon of 
London. The Centaur contains the star nearest to the Earth, 
a, of the first magnitude. It is also in this constellation that 
the beautiful regular nebula is found, which we have already 
admired, the globular cluster Omega of the Centaur. The 
feet of the latter touch the Southern Cross, formed of four 
stars of the second magnitude, always hidden below our 
horizon. A little further south is the south pole. 



- vi 



THE NUMBER OF THE STARS— THEIR DISTANCES. 

1 II est pour la pense*e une heure . . . une heure sainte 
Alors que s'enfuyait de la celeste enceinte, 
De l'absence cln jour pour consoler les cieux, 
Le crepuscule aux moots prolonge ses adieux. 
On voit a I'horizun sa Jueur incertaine, 
Comme les bords tlottants d'une robe qui traine, 
Balayer lentement le firmament obscur, 
Ou les astres ternis revivent dans l'azur. 
Alors ces globes d'or, ces iles de lumiere, 
Que cberche par instinct la reveuse paupiere, 
Jaillissent par milliers de l'ombre qui s'enfuit, 
Comme une poudre d'ur sous les pas de la nuit.' 

Lam amine. 

In order that the mind may be less confused in the midst 
of these thousands of sparkling points, it has been agreed 
from the highest antiquity to class the stars according to 
their apparent brightness, besides the divisions we have just 
mentioned. We have seen that the brightest stars have been 
called stars of the first order, or magnitude, although this 
term does not imply anything relative to the actual size 
or brightness of the stars ; those which follow, still in the 
order of their apparent brightness, have been called stars of 
the second magnitude ; then come those of the third, fourth, 
and fifth magnitude, according as they appear smaller ; lastly, 
stars of the sixth magnitude are the last stars visible to the 
naked eye. 

The stars of the first magnitude are eighteen in number. 
In reality, the eighteenth, that is to say, the least brilliant of 



102 Marvels of r .ke Heavens. 

the series, might as well be inscribed in the first rank of the 
stars of the second magnitude, and the first of this second 
series might, in the same way, be added to the stars of the 
first magnitude. There is nothing in the nature of these 
separations which necessitates our classification; but as we 
must stop at one star, and a series is to be made, it has 
been agreed to make the list oi itars of the first magnitude as 
follows : — 

List of Stars of the First Magnitude in the order of their 
decreasing brightness. 

1. Sirius, or a. of the Great Dog. 

2. n of Argo (variable star). 

3. Canopus, or u of the Vessel. 

4. a of the Centaur. 

5. Arcturus, or a. of the Cowherd (Bootes). 

6. Rigel, or /3 of Orion. 

7. Capella, or u, of Auriga. 

8. Vega, or a. of Lyra. 

9. Procyon, or a of the Little Dog. 

10. Betelgeuse, or a, of Orion. 

11. Achernar, or a, of Eridan. 

12. Aldebaran, or a. of the Bull. 

13. /3 of the Centaur. 

14. cc of the Cross. 

15. Antares, or ec of the Scorpion. 

16. Atai'r, or oc of the Eagle. 

17. Spica, or a. of the Virgin. 

18. Fomalhaut, or u. of the Southern Fish. 

It is generally thought that the brightest are the nearest, 
and that the stars appear to us smaller the more distant they 
are from us. Hence it follows that the number of the stars 
must increase in the inverse ratio of each magnitude : that 
the stars which form the second series, for instance, being on 
a more distant, and consequently larger, visual circle than 
that of the first series, are more numerous : that the third series 



The Nu ruber of th e Stars. 1 03 

is richer than the second, and so on. This is precisely what 
is observed. The stars of the second magnitude numbei 
about 55; of the third, 170; of the fourth, 500, &c. The 
following is, indeed, an easy method of knowing approxi- 
mately the number of stars of each order. It has been re- 
marked that each class is generally three times more numerous 
than that which precedes it; so that by multiplying the 
number of stars which compose any series by three, we have 
nearly the number of those which compose the following 
series. By this calculation the number of the stars of the six 
first magnitudes- — in other words, that of the whole of the 
stars visible to the naked eye — would give a total of about 
6000. Generally it is thought that more may be seen; we 
think we can count them by myriads, by millions : in this as 
in everything else, we are always given to exaggeration! 
Yet, in fact, the number of stars visible to the naked eye, in 
both hemispheres does not exceed this figure, and even 
then there are few eyes good enough to see more than 4000 
or 5000. 

But here, when our feeble sight gives way, the telescope, 
that giant eye which increases from century to century, 
piercing the depths of the heavens, constantly discovers new 
stars. After the sixth magnitude the first glasses revealed 
the seventh. Then they reached the eighth, the ninth. It 
is thus that thousands have increased to tens of thousands, 
and that tens of thousands have become hundreds of thou- 
sands. More perfect instruments have cleared these distances, 
and have found stars of the tenth and eleventh magnitudes. 
From this period they began to count by millions. The num- 
ber of the stars of the twelfth magnitude is 9,556,000 ; added 
to the eleven preceding magnitudes the total exceeds four- 
teen millions. By the aid of still greater magnifying 
power, these limits are again surpassed. At the present 
time, the total number of stars from the first to the thirteenth 
magnitude inclusive, is calculated at 43,000,000. *The 
sky is truly transformed. In the field of the telescope, 



104 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



neither constellations nor divisions are distinguished ; bnt a 
fine dust shines in the place where the eye, left to its own 
power, only sees darkness on which stand out two or three 




Fig. 21. A part of the constellation of tbe Swan, as sesn through the telescope. 



stars. In proportion as the wonderful discoveries in optics 
will increase the visual power, all regions of the sky will 
be covered with this fine golden sand ; and a day will come 




The Number of the Stars. 105 

when the astonished eye, raised towards these unknown 
depths, will be startled by the accumulation of stars which 
succeed each other in an endless manner, and will only 
discover a delicate tissue of light. 

What is the extent occupied by these myriads of stars 
which succeed each other eternally in space ? This question 
has always attracted the attention of astronomers as well as 
that of simple thinkers ; but they were not able to com- 
mence any researches relative to its solution until lately, 
when delicate means have become accessible to us 

The ancients did not form the slightest 
idea of the distance or nature of the heavenly 
bodies : they were thought to be emanations 
from the Earth, rising like the ignes fatal 
over marshy places. This would be a long 
and curious story, and, like that of all 
primitive ideas, but little in harmony with 
the .grandeur of creation. To possess the Fig. 22. The same 

" _ . it c i seen with, the na- 

power 01 measuring the distance ot the kedeye. 
nearest star, it is necessary to measure the 
thickness of a hair. A long time elapsed before this was 
accomplished. I shall give at the end of this chapter an idea 
of the method employed, in order to succeed in these exact 
determinations ; we will first satisfy our curiosity, and learn 
at what distance the nearest stars are from us. 

The nearest star is in the southern constellation of the 
Centaur; it is the star a. According to the most recent 
researches, it is distant from us 211,300 times the distance 
from here to the Sun. A few years ago, it was believed to 
be further, but more exact determinations have definitely 
established that it is not beyond the distance just mentioned. 

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to figure to oneself 
such distances, and to comprehend them, it is necessary 
for our mind to associate with the idea of space, the idea of 
time ; to travel in some way along this line, and to estimate 
its length by time. For small distances, we do the 



106 Marvels of the Heavens. 

same on the Earth. If, for example, it is said that it is 
310 miles from Paris to Strasburg, we with difficulty fig! re 
this distance at first sight ; but by associating the idea of 
the time necessary to pass through it with a given velocity, 
by learning that an express train going at the rate of 44 
miles per hour, arrives there in seven hours, we represent 
to ourselves the road traversed. This method, useful for 
terrestrial distances, is necessary for celestial ones : we shall 
also measure space by time ; only, instead of the velocity of a 
train, we shall take that of light, which travels at the rate 
of 136,000 miles per second. 

Well, to traverse the distance which separates us from 
our neighbour a of the Centaur, our courier takes three 
years and eight months. If the mind wishes to follow it, 
it must not jump with the twinkling of an eye from the 
departure to the arrival, otherwise it would no longer have 
the slightest idea of the distance, it is necessary to represent 
to itself the direct path of the luminous ray, and to associate 
itself with this path, which it must imagine to travel 186,000 
miles during the first second of route, dating from its de- 
parture ; then 186,000 miles for the second second, which 
makes 372,000 miles ; then again 186,000 miles during the 
third, and so on without stopping for three years and eight 
months. 

If we give ourselves this trouble, it will enable us to 
understand the enormous value of the number ; otherwise, 
as it exceeds every number which the mind is accustomed 
to use, it will not have any meaning and will remain un- 
comprehended. 

Our nearest star is a of the Centaur. The one whose 
distance places it immediately after, is a star situated in 
another region of the sky, in the constellation of the Swan. 
This is our second nearest ; which does not prevent it being 
nearly three times more distant from us than the first. The 
distances of ten stars have been calculated. The following 
are the nearest : The first column of numbers represents the 



The Number of the Stars. 



107 



number of radii of the terrestrial orbit (distance from the 
Earth to the Sun) which must be laid out in line, one 
from the other, to reach the star ; the second column in- 
dicates the number of years light takes to traverse the 
distance : 



ec of the Centaur 

u of the Swan 

Vega, * of Lyra 

Sirius, « of the Great Dog.. 

<* of the Great Bear 

Arcturus, u. of Bootes 

Pole Star 

The Goat, « of Auriga 



211,330 3 years 8 months. 

550,920 9k years. 

1,330,700 21 „ 

1,375,000 22 „ 

1,550,800 25 „ 

1.622,800 26 „ 

3,078,600 50 „ 

4,484,000 72 „ 



These are the nearest stars. Most of the stars whose 
distances have been calculated are some of the brightest in the 
heavens, and are among those of the first and second mag- 
nitude. It may be asked if it be possible, by comparison, to 
determine the probable distance of the regions where the least 
magnitudes shine. This is a curious question, which Arago 
tried to solve and on which he reasoned as follows : 

We take, for instance, from the foregoing list a mean star 
of the first magnitude, not Sirius, which exceeds all the others 
by its brilliancy, but Arcturus or Vega ; we ask ourselves to 
what distance must this star be transported in order that it 
may diminish in apparent brightness to the fourth magnitude, 
and we see that it is necessary to transport it to a distance 
four times greater than its present distance ; by withdrawing 
it to eight times the original distance, it would become from 
the fifth to the sixth order : in the mean, a star of the first 
magnitude transported to twelve times its actual distance, 
would still be visible to the naked eye, and its light would 
not fall below the sixth magnitude. 

William Herschel tried to extend the scale of visibility 
which he had formed for the naked eye to telescopic observa- 
tions. He prepared a series of telescopes of gradually increasing 



108 Marvels of the Heavens. 

power, and for the subject of his observations he took the 
nebula of Perseus. There the eye could not distinguish any- 
star. If there were any. they were necessarily more feeble 
than the stars of the first magnitude would be, transported to 
twelve times their actual distance ; the small instrument 
showed a great number. Let us admit that, in this great 
number there are, which is probable, as bright stars as 
Arcturus, Vega, &c, these stars, in order to become just 
visible after their intensity was quadrupled, must be twice as 
far as the last stars visible to the naked eye, that is to say, 
twenty-four times further than Arcturus, Vega, &c. 

The second instrument, which increased the light in the 
proportion of nine to one, and brought the objects three 
times nearer, discovered stars, the traces of which were not to 
be found in the first ; the intensities of the stars were such as 
Arcturus, Vega, &c, would become at thirty-six times their 
distance. 

By coming gradually to the telescope of nine feet focal 
length, the observer perceived stars of intensity similar to 
what the stars of the first magnitude would appear at 344 
times the distance which now separates them from us. 

The eighteen-foot telescope extended its power to 900 
times the distance of the stars of the first magnitude ; 
and it was evident that a more powerful telescope would have 
showed stars still more distant. To escape the numerical 
consequences that I am going to deduce from Herschel's 
results, it must be supposed that among the immense number 
of stars that each telescope of smaller power discovers, there 
does not exist one as brilliant as Arcturus or Vega of Lyra ; 
in a word, it must be admired that stars of the first mag- 
nitude only lie near our solar system. Such a supposition 
does not certainly deserve refutation. 

There is no star of the first magnitude whose light reaches 
us in less than three years. 

According to that, adds Arago, in conclusion, the light 
of the stars of different orders, in reality as large as Arcturus 



The Number of the Stars. 109 

Vega in Lyra, &c, arrives from such distances from the Earth 
that light could not pass through them, — 

For stars of the second magnitude in less than . . 6 years 

„ fourth magnitude 12 „ 

„ sixth magnitude 36 „ 

For the last stars visible with the nine- foot telescope 1042 „ 
For the last stars visible with the eighteen-foot 

telescope 2700 „ 

The luminous rays which reach us from the stars relate 
to us then, if we may so express it, the ancient history of 
these bodies. But by what power did man arrive at the 
knowledge of the distances of the nearest stars ? In astronomy 
there are facts which surprise us by their grandeur, and which 
exceed the sphere of the habitual conceptions of man in such a 
way, that one is tempted to question them with doubt in spite 
of the affirmation of astronomers, and even to banish them 
to the rank of the deceitful pretensions with which science is 
sometimes surrounded, to impose on the vulgar. Of this 
number are the principal conquests of stellar astronomy, and 
particularly the determinations relative to the distance of the 
stars. 

I shall endeavour to give an idea of the method which is 
employed to determine these distances, and by this explanation 
to remove the unfavourable idea still entertained by many 
of these perfectly established facts of modern astronomy. 

A few instants' reflection will suffice to show, that if the 
Earth moves in space, during its annual course round the 
Sun, there must follow an apparent displacement of the other 
hodies in the sky. No one has looked from the window of a 
railway-carriage without seeing that the trees, houses, hills, 
and other objects which sprinkle the country, appear to move 
in an opposite direction to the path of the train, and that tt. 
nearest objects are those which appear to undergo the greatest 
displacement, whilst the most distant move more slowly, as 
far as the horizon, which remains nearly immovable. It 



110 Marvels of the Heavens. 

must then follow from the movement of the Earth in space, 
that the stars, situated in the region of the heavens which 
the Earth leaves behind at a certain time of the year, will 
appear nearer together, whilst the stars which the Earth 
approaches will appear to get further apart. This effect will 
be necessarily less as the distances of the stars become greater. 
If it were possible to measure the displacement undergone by 
a star in consequence of the movement of the Earth, we 
should have the distance of this star. For let the ellipse in 
Fi°\ 23 be the curve followed by the Earth in its annual 
path round the Sun, and let S be the Sun, T S T 7 a diameter 
of the terrestrial orbit, and T and T" the position of the 
Earth at the two extremities of this diameter, that is to say, 
at six months' interval (as the Earth makes the entire passage 
in a year) ; lastly, let E be the star whose distance is to be 
measured. 




Fig. 23. Measure of celestial distances. 

When the Earth is situated at the point T, the angle 
S T E is measured, formed by the Sun, the Earth, and the 
star ; when the Earth is at T 7 , the angle S T 7 E is measured. 
It is known that in every triangle the total of the three 
angles is equal to two right angles, that is, to 180°; there- 
S^e, if the total of the two observed angles, S T E and 
S T 7 E, is found, and this total is deducted from 180°, the 
value of the angle at E will be obtained, the angle subtended 
at the star by the diameter of the terrestrial orbit. And this 
value will be as exact as if we could have been transported 



The Number of the Stars. 1 1 1 

to the star to- measure it directly. The half of this angle, 
that is, the angle S E T, is what is called ' the annual parallax' 
of the star E. Thus the annual parallax of a star is the 
angle under which an observer placed on the star would see 
the radius of the terrestrial orbit. 

By always taking corresponding observations at two 
diametrically opposite points of the Earth's orbit in the 
course of the year, a great number of measures of the annual 
parallax will be obtained in this manner. In our example, 
and in our figure, the star is situated near the pole of the 
ecliptic; the operation is the same, although rather more 
simple for the other positions of the heavens. In practice, 
the measures of the angles 8 T E, S T' E, are obtained in an 
exact way, by comparing the successive positions of the star 
observed with that of a relatively fixed star which has no 
parallax. The great majority of stars are among the latter. 
Astronomical researches have proved that there is not a 
single star with its parallax equal to \" . They are all 
below it. To form an idea of this value, it must be under- 
stood that the circumference of astronomical circles used in 
observation is divided into 360 parts called degrees, each 
degree into 60 minutes, each minute into 60 seconds. 
This value of a second is so small that a spider's thread, 
placed in the field of view of the telescope, entirely hides the 
portion of the celestial sphere where the apparent movements 
of the stars are effected, a portion at most equal to 1". 

The star which these observations have proved to be the 
nearest, is the star a of the Centaur ; its parallax is equal to 
97 hundredths of a second (0 ,/# 97). From the star a of the 
Centaur, the radius of the terrestrial orbit is then reduced 
to Of' '97. Now, in order that the length of any straight 
line seen be reduced as to appear only under the small angle 
of 1 second, it is necessary that this line be at a distance of 
206,000 times its length, and in order to reduce it to 0"'97, 
it must be still further removed to 211,330 times itB length. 
These are mathematical data. Therefore the distance from 



112 Marvels of the Heavens. 

us of the star a of the Centaur is 211,330 times the radius 
of the terrestrial orbit, that is to say, 211,330 times 91 
millions of miles. 

This is the nearest star. Light travels for three years 
and eight months to come from it, to the Earth. The other 
near stars succeed each other, as we have seen, at greatei 
distances. 

From the preceding it will be seen that these results, 
however prodigious they may appear at first sight, are due 
to mathematical methods of great simplicity. All the diffi- 
culty in this sort of determination consists in the extremely 
minute, long, and laborious observation of the slight dis- 
placement of the star in the heavens. 

All these stars, vast as our Sun, separated from each 
other by such distances, succeeding each other in an endless 
manner in the immensity of space, are in motion in the 
heavens. Nothing is stationary in the universe, there is not 
a single atom of matter in absolute repose. The formidable 
forces with which matter is animated universally regulate 
its action. These movements of the suns of space are im- 
perceptible to our eyes, because they are performed at too 
great a distance ; but they are more rapid than any velocity 
we can observe on the Earth ; there are some stars which 
are carried away in space with a rapidity of fifty miles 
per second. To the eye which knew how to make abstrac- 
tion of time as of space, the sky would be a moving swarm 
of stars. 



113 



VI. 

VARIABLE STARS— TEMPORAEY STARS— STARS 
SUDDENLY VISIBLE OR INVISIBLE. 

' J'&ais seul pres des flots par une nuit d'etoiles. 
Pas un nuage aux cieux, sur les mers pas de voiles. 
Mes yeux plongeaient plus loin que l'e monde reel. 
Et les bois et les monts, et toute la nature, 
Semblaient interroger dans un confus murmure 

Les flots des mers, les feux du ciel. 
Et les etoiles d'or, legions infinies, 
A voix haute, a voix basse, avec mille harmonies, 
Disaient en inclinant leurs couronnes de feu, 
Et les flots bleus, que rien ne gouverne et n'arrete, 
Disaient en recourbant Tecume de leur crete : 

— C'est le Seigneur, le Seigneur Dieu ! ' 

Victoe Hugo, Orientales. 

Of all the wonders which the telescope has revealed in 
the fields of space, not one has perhaps more right to the 
•astonishment of mortals than the existence of changing stars, 
periodically variable, whose light and colour undergo a 
periodicity of brightness ; at least, observers have not been 
more surprised at any telescopic revelation. Stars which, 
far from remaining fixed in an unchangeable light, see their 
brightness periodically die away and again revive ! — stars 
shining to-day with a splendid light will be invisible to-mor- 
row, and after to-morrow again revived ! The most daring 
imagination could scarcely invent such creatures ; and now 
even, when their existence has been well proved, the mind can 
scarcely accustom itself to realise it. 

These are stars whose light undergoes a periodical 
variation, bringing it by turns to its maximum and its mini* 



1 14 Marvels of the Heavens. 

mum intensity. To figure to ourselves well in what this 
singular change consists, let us call to mind our Sun, and 
let us suppose it subjected to these variations. To-day it 
radiates the most transcendent flames, and pours down into 
the heated atmosphere floods of dazzling light ; for some days 
it preserves this same intensity ; but behold, the sky remain- 
ing clear as formerly, the light of the Sun gradually dies 
away from day to day : at the end of a week it has lost iialf 
its light ; at the end of fifteen days it can be looked at stead- 
fastly, and then it still fades, becomes pale and dull, only 
sending a wan light to the Earth. We tremble for its days, 
and we ask ourselves with the translator of Plutarch : — 

( Le Dieu qui du neant vient de tirer le monde 
Va-t-il le replouger dans une nuit profonde ? 
Le soleil, ce flambeau de la terre et des cieux, 
A-t-il vu pour jamais aneantir ses feux ? ' 

But it revives, and with it hope. The firot progress in its 
extinguished light is noticed ; it becomes whiter and more 
brilliant. The torch is relighted and increases from day to 
day; a week after its minimum intensity, it already sends 
forth a light and heat which bring to mind the solar focus. 
Its increase continues. And when a period equal to that 
of its decline has passed, the dazzling Sun will have 
regained all its power and grandeur. The Earth is inun- 
dated with the rays of its brilliant light and its fertilising heat. 
But it does not enjoy this splendour long, for already the 
Sun recommences its decreasing curve. And so on, con- 
tinually. The nature of this new Sun is periodical while 
the virtue of our preceding one was to preserve a permanent 
light and heat. 

It may be imagined that these variations of light astonish 
the observer who contemplates them in the field of the 
telescope. The periods are of all lengths. For some stars, the 
thirtieth of the Hydra of Hevelius, for instance, the period is 



Variable Stars. 115 

more than 1 year, "being 494 days. It varies between the fourth 
magnitude and complete disappearance. The star % of the 
neck of the Swan, varies from the fifth to the eleventh magni- 
tude in a period of 404 days. Another star of which we 
have already spoken in the chapter on the constellations, o of the 
Whale, also called the Marvellous (Mira Ceti), varies in 334 
days from the second magnitude to total disappearance. Other 
stars are regulated by more rapid variations. The star which 
passes most rapidly from its maximum to its minimum, is 
Algol in Medusa's Head, which we already know ((3 of Perseus). 
For in 1 day, 10 hours, and 24 minutes, it has finished its 
decrease ; in the same lapse of time it has reached its 
maximum : its period is only 2 days, 20 hours, 48 minutes. 
The star § of Cepheus varies in a period of 5 days, 8 hours, 
and 37 minutes, from the third to the fifth magnitude. 
It will be seen that these variations are themselves very vari- 
able, and that there are suns which pass with strange rapidity 
from their greatest to their smallest light. What are the 
prodigious forces which regulate these gigantic changes ? 
Science has not yet been able to determine this. Maupertuis 
said that variable stars were of the form of lenses, that they 
turned perpendicularly on themselves, and that they presented 
to us successively their edge and front. At the period when 
they presented the edge, their light was at the minimum ; 
and at the time when they presented their entire front, it was 
at their maximum. But do lens-like suns exist ? If the thing 
is possible, it is not proved. Not only are there stars whose 
light changes periodically, sometimes diminishing until they 
become completely invisible, although, in reality, they are not 
quite extinguished ; but there are again others whose light is, 
weakened never to be revived, and which for ever have dis- 
appeared from the sky. These are the extinguished stars of 
which the list is rather long. The astronomer, Ulugh -Beigh, 
stated, in the year 1437, that one star of Auriga, the 
eleventh of the Wolf, six stars, among which four of the 
thiH. magnitude near the Southern Fish, all marked in the 



116 Marvels of the Heavens. 

catalogues of Ptolemy and Abdurrahman-Suphi, were nc 
longer visible in bis time. In the seventeenth century, J. D. 
Cassini, and at the end of the eighteenth, W. Herschel, 
pointed out a great number of other stars which had com- 
pletely disappeared. These were systems for which the hour 
of the end of the world had struck. 

Speaking of the end of the world, this dread is awakened 
in the inhabitants of the Earth, not when stars disappear 
from the firmament, for this is mostly noticed by astronomers, 
but rather when a new body is suddenly lighted up in the 
heavens. Indeed there are stars which suddenly appear. 
In the same year as the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, on 
the 11th of November, 1572, a magnificent star of the first 
magnitude suddenly appeared in the constellation of Cassiopea, 
effacing by its brilliancy the most beautiful stars in the sky. It 
remained for eighteen months, and disappeared never to return. 

Astrologers said that this appearance was the same as 
that to the Magi at the birth of Jesus Christ, and concluded 
from it that the last judgment was near. Thirty-two years 
later another new star appeared in the constellation of Ser- 
pentarius. From the day of its appearance, the 10th of Octo- 
ber, 1604, according to Arago, it was white ; it surpassed stars 
of the first magnitude in brightness, also Mars, Jupiter, and 
Saturn, which were near it. Many compared it to Venus. 
Those who had seen the star in 1572 found that the new one 
exceeded it in brightness. It did not appear to become 
fainter in the second half of the month of October ; on the 9th 
of November, the twilight which effaced Jupiter did not pre- 
vent this star from being visible. On the 16th of November 
Kepler perceived it for the last time, but at Turin, when it 
reappeared in the east, at the end of December and at the 
beginning of January, its light was fainter ; it certainly sur- 
passed Antares, but was not equal to Arcturus. On the 
20th March, 1605, it was smaller in appearance than Saturn, 
but it exceeded in brightness the stars of the third magnitude 
in Ophiuchus. On the 21st of April it seemed equal to the 



Variable Stars. 117 

shining star of the third magnitude in the knee of Ophiuchus. 
It diminished imperceptibly ; on the 8th of October it was 
still seen, but with difficulty, on account of the twilight. In 
March, 1606, it had become completely invisible. 

These appearances, like all extraordinary phenomena, 
excited terror and awakened ideas, not to be stifled, of the 
conflagration of the world, the fall of the stars, and the end of 
time. One of the most memorable predictions is that in 
1588, announced in emphatic Latin verse, of which the fol- 
lowing is a translation : — 

' After one thousand five hundred years, dating from the con- 
ception of the Virgin, this eighty-eighth year will be strange 
and full of dread ; it will bring with it sad destinies. If, in this 
terrible year, the perverse world does not fall into dust, if the 
earth and seas are not annihilated, all the empires of the world 
will be overthrown, and affliction will oppress the human race.' 

This prediction was later renewed in favour or disfavour 
of the seventeenth century, and the Mercure de France an- 
nounced the greatest revolutions for the year 1788. It then 
passedt or naving been found in the tomb of Regiomontanus. 
Authors did not think how right they were to describe this 
memorable epoch under the title of revolution. 

But while considering these predictions, the list of which 
would be longer than at first imagined, I cannot help relating 
the curious mystifications worked in 1524 by the German 
Astrologer StofBer. According to him, on the 20th of 
February of that year, the conjunction of the planets in the 
Fishes must produce a universal deluge. Astrologers gave 
faith to it like the common herd : the sinister news soon 
traversed the world, and they prepared themselves to see the 
universe pass from time into eternity. ' All the provinces of 
Gaul,' says an author of that period, ' were in strange fright 
and doubt of a universal inundation, and such that our 
fathers had not seen, or was known by historians or others, 
by means of which men and women were in great fear. And 
many removed from their low dwelling-places, and found 



118 Marvels of the Heavens. 

higher spots, made provision of meal and other matters, and 
had processions and general and public prayers, that it 
might please God to have pity on His people.' 

Fear seized on a great many minds. Those who lived near 
the sea or rivers left their abodes, and sold, at immense losses. 
doubtless to unbelievers, their properties and goods. At 
Toulouse, another Noah constructed a ship to serve as an ark 
to his family and friends, — and, probably, also to a few- 
couples of animals. This was not the only case. Accord- 
ing to the account of the historian, Bodin, ' There were 
many infidels, who made arks to save themselves, although 
God's promise and oath, never again to drown man by a 
deluge, was preached to them.' Many and man} 7 a time the 
prediction was given out, and, sad to say, it always found the 
same number of believers, although each time the event gave 
it a positive denial. In 1584, the fear caused by an announce- 
ment of this kind was so great that the churches were unable 
to contain those who sought refuge in them ; a great number 
made their wills without reflecting that it was useless if all 
the world was to perish ; and others gave their goods to the 
priests, in the hope that their prayers would delay this day of 
judgment. I believe that as long as the world remains it 
will fear its dissolution. 

These singular stars which are suddenly lighted up in 
the heavens, to be extinguished soon after — these variable 
suns which pass through all degrees of light, and seem, like 
Castor and Pollux, to have received as a destiny an everlasting 
transitory movement from life to death and death to life, little 
suspect the terrors which they so innocently cause to spring 
up among men. What unknown power presides over these 
variations of light and heat ? What influence on the planetary 
worlds which circulate round these bodies is of so strange 
a nature? What thought regulates these movements, and 
what hand constructs beings born to live in harmony with 
such systems? What distance separates terrestrial nature, 
where years follow each other by a permanent law, and bring 



Variable Stars. 119 

back successively the same phenomena, from those worlds 
where such prodigious variations take place ? The mind is 
astonished with these questions and cannot answer them. 
Towards the end of the night, when sunrise began to cause 
the stars to fade, the English poet Kirke White expressed 
his astonishment in these terms : — 

* Ye many twinkling stars, who yet do hold 
Your brilliant places in the sable vault 
Of night's dominions ! — planets, and central orbs 
Of other systems ; — big as the burning Sun 
Which lights this nether globe, — yet to our eye 
Small as the glow-worm's lamp ! — to you I raise 
My lowly orisons, while, all-bewildered, 
My vision strays o'er your ethereal hosts ; 
Too vast, too boundless, for our narrow minds, 
Warped with low prejudices, to unfold, 
And sagely comprehend ; thence, higher soaring, 
Through ye I raise my solemn thoughts to Him, 
The mighty Founder of this wondrous maze, 
The great Creator ! — Him, who now sublime, 
Wrapt in the solitary amplitude 
Of boundless space, above the rolling spheres, 
Sits on his silent throne, and meditates. 

' Thou, proud man, look upon yon starry vault, 
Survey the countless gems which richly stud 
The Night's imperial chariot ; — telescopes 
Wilr show thee myriads, more innumerable 
Than the sea sand ; each of those little lamps 
To the great source of light, the central sun, 
Round which some other mighty sisterhoods 
Of planets travel, every planet stock'd 
With living beings impotent as thee. 
Now, proud man ! now, where is thy greatness fled ? 
What art thou in the scale of universes ? 
Less, less than nothing ! Yet of thee the God 
Who built this wondrous frame of worlds is careful, 

. As well as of the mendicant who begs 
The leavings of thy table.' 



120 Marvels of the Heavens. 



VII. 

DISTANT UNIVERSES— DOUBLE, MULTIPLE, AND 
COLOURED SUNS. 

* Pax dela l'infini des cieux, 
Je vis encore une etendue 
Ou des soleils mysterieux, 
Qui se cacbent a notre vue, 
Illuminent d'autres mortels. 
La notre terre est inconnue, 
La sont d'immenses archipels 
Dont les humains, sans se connaitre, 
Adorent tous le meme Maitre, 
Chacun sur differents autels.' 

The wonders we have just reviewed become insignificant 
before those which we approach. Here, what we call natural 
is quite overthrown. Our observation, ideas formed by expe- 
rience, classification, and judgment in that which concerns the 
works of nature, have no longer the least application. We 
are really in another world, strange, improbable, and un- 
natural to us. Life, the forces which sustain it, light, heat, 
electricity, the periods of days and nights, seasons, years, the 
visible and invisible world, all are transformed. Here we are 
on the surface of celestial globes, illuminated by many suns, 
of all magnitudes, lights, colours, and by moons with many- 
coloured discs. Nothing like it has been seen on the earth : 
are these truly our worlds ? — are these not other universes ? 

Let us, then, sum up the studies we have made on the 
nature of these worlds in our panorama,* and let us observe 

* See Annualre du Cosmos for the year 1865. 



Distant Universes. 121 

the essential types of the astonishing diversity which contrasts 
them from ours. 

The white light of our Sun pours its dazzling rays from 
the azure height, and, thanks to the transparent atmosphere 
in which a thousand reflections form a real reservoir 
of light, all the objects which clothe or people the surface of 
the globe are enveloped in this light. Nevertheless, this 
white light is not simple. It contains in its rays all 
possible colours ; and bodies, instead of appearing to us 
clothed with a. uniform whiteness, absorb certain colours 
of this complex ray and reflect others; it is this reflection 
which constitutes the coloration of these bodies. This 
depends, then, on the molecular agency of the reflecting 
surface, on its power of receiving certain rays of the 
spectrum and of repelling others. But all these colours 
constitute the original white — the one source of these various 
appearances. 

It is now well to remember that this theory, applicable 
to the organic world, receives still more considerable import- 
ance when we consider the mode of coloration of organic 
substances. The beauty of plants, the diversity of the 
meadows, the gold of the fields, the whiteness of the lily, the 
scarlet, orange, azure, and the charming shades w T hich form 
the richness of the flowers, the brilliancy of plumage of little 
tropical birds, the snowlike doves, the yellow fur of the desert 
lion, like the radiancy of flaxen hair : it is to the white light 
of our Sun that we must go for the explanation of these 
visible beauties — in him resides the source of the infinite 
shades which decorate the forms of nature. 

Now let us, for an instant, suppose that, instead of a white 
sun, the source of all the light which inundates us, we had a 
dark blue sun. What a change is soon worked in nature ! 
The clouds lose their silvery whiteness and gold from their 
flakes, and spreading a darker vault under the heavens, all 
nature is covered with a coloured penumbra, while the beauti- 
ful stars remain in the noon-day sky ; the flowers lose the 



122. 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



light of their brilliant dress ; the fields succeed each other 
in the mist as far as the invisible horizon ; a new day shines 
under the heavens. 

The carnation of fresh cheeks loses its budding bloom, 
faces appear to be aged, and astonished humanity asks for the 
explanation of such a strange phenomenon. We know the 
rudiments of things so little and we hold so much to appear- 
ances, that the whole universe seems to us renewed by this 
slight modification of solar light. 

How would it be if, instead of an indigo sun, following 
its apparent course with regularity, making the years and 
days certain by its own rule, a second sun suddenly arrived 
in addition to it, a scarlet sun continually disputing the 
empire of the world of colours with its partner ? Imagine at 
noon, at the moment when our blue sun spreads that shadowy 
light over nature which we have just described, the conflagra- 
tion of a resplendent orb kindling its flames in the east. 
Greenish silhouettes suddenly rise through the diffused light, 
and opposite each object a dark shadow cuts the blue light 
which spreads over the world. Later the red sun rises as 
the other sinks, and the objects are coloured, to the east 
with the red rays, to the west with the blue. Later still, as 
a fresh mid-day lights up the Earth, the first sun vanishes, 
and from that time nature is clothed with a scarlet fire. 
If we pass to the night, scarcely have the last rays of the 
purple sun faded away in the west, like distant Bengal fires, 
than a new sunrise appears opposite the azured glimmer of 
the cyclops with the blue eye. 

Is it possible for the imagination of poets or the caprice of 
painters to create on the palette of fancy a more daring world 
of light than this one ? The foolish hand of chimera, throw- 
ing on its impressible sheet the odd colours of its will, can.it 
erect at hazard a more wonderful edifice than this ? Hegel 
said that ' all which is real is rational,' and ' all which is 
rational is real.' Yet this bold thought does not express 
the whole truth. There are many things which do not 



Distant Universes. 123 

appear to us rational, and which, nevertheless, exist in reality 
in the mimherless creations of space which surround us. 

What we have just said respecting an Earth .ighted up 
by two suns of different colours, one being dark blue and 
the other scarlet, is not imaginary. In a beautiful calm, 
clear night take your glass and look at Perseus, this hero 
walking in the midst of the Milky Way, holding Medusa's 
head in his hand ; look at the star q, this is a world such as 
that of which we have just spoken. The, large star is of a 
beautiful red, the other of a dark blue. At what distance 
is this strange system situated ? no one can tell. It can only 
be stated that, at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, 
light takes more than a hundred years to reach us from 
thence. 

But this is not the only system of the kind. That of y 
of Ophiuchus resembles it so much that they may be easily 
mistaken one for the other (at such a distance, it would 
indeed be excusable) only in the system of Ophiuchus the blue 
sun is not so dark as in the others. One star of the Dragon 
very much resembles the preceding, but then the large sun is 
of a deeper red, its small one blueish ; another again, r\ 
Argo, has its large sun blue and its less brilliant one dark 
red. 

Thus we have our imaginary world realised in many 
parts of space. And perhaps there are human eyes who 
thus contemplate those wonders each day. Who knows ? 
— and the thing is very probable — perhaps they pay no 
attention to it, and from their cradle accustomed like us to 
the same sight, they do not appreciate the picturesque value 
of their abode. Thus are men constituted. The novel and 
unexpected alone affect them ; as to the natural, this seems 
but an eternal, necessary, and fortuitous state of blind nature, 
which does not deserve the trouble of being observed. If 
the people came thence to us, though acknowledging the 
simplicity of our little universe, they would not fail to observe 
it with surprise, and be astonished at our indifference. 



124 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



It was doubtless, after having dreamt of these strange 
and distant worlds that Victor Hugo wrote the following 
stanzas : — 

' S'il nous etait donne de faire 
Ce voyage demesure, 
Et de voler de sphere en sphere 
A ce grand soleil ignore ; 
Si, par un archange qui l'ainie, 
L'homme aveugle, fremissant, bleme, 
Dans les profondeurs du probleme, 
Vivant, pouvait etre introduit ; 
Si nous pouvions fuir notre centre, 
Et, forcant l'ombre on Dieu seul entre, 
Aller voir de pres dans leur antre 
Ces enormites de la nuit ; 

' Ce qui t'apparaitrait te ferait trembler, ange ! 
Rien, pas de vision, pas de songe insense, 
Qui ne fut depasse par ce spectacle etrange ; 
Monde infernal, et d'un tel mystere tisse, 
Que son rayon fondrait nos chairs, cire vivante, 
Et qu'il ne resterait de nous dans Fepouvante 
Qu'un regard ebloui sous un front herisse. 
Tu verrais ! — un soleil, autour de lui des mondes, 
Centres eux-meme, ayant des lunes autour d'eux ; 
La, des formillement de spheres vagabondes ; 
La des globes jumeaux qui tournent deux-d-deux? 

The suns which constitute these multiple systems differ 
therefore from ours by their coloration; and, among the 
whole of the bodies, a fresh variety again manifests itself. 
Coloured binary systems are not composed solely of the 
red and blue suns to which we have just alluded; the 
means have not been at fault, it is the same here as in the 
universality of the productions of nature ; it is from an inex- 
haustible source that it has drawn the richness and sumptu- 
ousness with which it has decorated its works. 



Distant Universes. 125 

For instance, the following is the beautiful system of y of 
Andromeda. The large central sun is orange, the small one 
which gravitates near it is emerald green. * What follows 
from the union of these two colours? The orange and the 
emerald ? Is not this an assortment full of youth, if this 
metaphor be permitted? A large and magnificent orange 
sun in the midst of the heavens ; then a bright emerald 
which gracefully joins its green radiations to the gold. 

Then again, in Hercules, we have two suns, red and 
green ; in Berenice's Hair, one pale red, the other a clear 
green ; in Cassiopea, a red and a green sun : a fresh series 
of soft and charming shades. 

Let us change the prospect ; to do this, it is only neces- 
sary to consider other systems. There is more variety 
amongst them than in all the changes which an optician can 
produce on the screen of a magic-lantern. Certain planetary 
universes lighted up by two suns have all the series of 
colours included under blue, and the brilliant shades of gold 
and purple which throw so much vivacity on this world are 
there unknown. It is in this category that are placed certain 
systems situated in the constellations of Andromeda, the 
Serpent, Ophiuchus, Berenice's Hair, &c. Others, again, 
only know red suns, like a double star of the Lion for in- 
stance. Some other systems are devoted to the blue and 
yellow, or at least are lighted up by a blue sun and a yellow 
sun, wdiich only give them a limited series of shades com- 
prised in the combinations of these primitive colours; such 
are the systems of the Whale, of Eridanus, one of which is 
straw colour and the other blue, the Giraffe, Orion, Unicorn, 
the Twins, Bootes, the large yellow and the greenish -blue of 
the Swan ; the small one is of an intense blue. W T e have, 
on the other hand, assortments of red and green ; as is seen 
in Cassiopea, Berenice's Hair, and Hercules. 

Other stellar systems are nearer ours, in the sense, that 

* Our author might have added that this green star is double, 
and is built up of one blue and one yellow star. — Tr. 



126 Marvels of the Heavens. 

one of the suns which illuminates them has, like ours, a 
white light, the source of all colours, whilst its neighbour 
throws a simple radiation on everything. For instance, in the 
worlds which revolve round the great sun a of the Ram; 
the large sun is white, but we constantly see in the heavens 
another smaller sun, whose blue reflection covers the objects 
exposed to its rays, as with a veil. The 26th of the Whale 
is in the same condition, and it is the same with a great 
number among the brightest stars. Such is the star % in 
the Swan's neck, which is besides one of the most remarkable 
of the variable stars, for in a period of 404 days the large white 
sun diminishes from the fifth to the eleventh magnitude and 
returns to its primitive state. To the worlds which gravitate 
round the principal sun in these binary systems, the original 
white light appears to give rise to the infinite varieties which 
w T e observe on the Earth, with the addition of a blue light 
constantly coming from the other sun ; but to the planets 
which gravitate round this one, it is the blue coloration 
which predominates, whilst the action of the more distant 
white sun is only secondary. 

In the same way as there are white suns, accompanied 
with blue suns, some are also accompanied with red or yellow 
suns. But I must not dwell on this enumeration if I wish 
to review the whole host of the sky. 

What a variety of light with two suns, one red and the 
other green, or one yellow and the other blue, must be expe- 
rienced on a planet which revolves round one or the other ; and 
what charming contrasts, and what magnificent alternations 
must arise from a red day and a green day, succeeded in 
turn with a white day and with darkness ! What nature is 
there ! . What unimaginable beauty clothes with unknown 
splendour these distant lands scattered in endless space ? 

If like our Moon which gravitates round the globe, or like 
those of Jupiter and Saturn, which unite their mirrors on the 
dark hemisphere of these worlds, the invisible planets which 
are there poised are surrounded with satellites which con- 



Distant Universes. 127 

stantly accompany them ; what is the aspect of these moons, 
lighted by many suns ? That moon which rises from the 
luminous mountains is divided into differently-coloured 
quarters, one red, another blue ; this other only presents an 
increasing yellow ; that one is at its full, it is green, and 
appears suspended in the heavens like an immense fruit. 
A ruby moon, an emerald moon, an opal moon, what heavenly 
jewellery ! O night of the Earth, which modestly silvers our 
solitary moon, thou art very beautiful when the calm and 
pensive mind contemplates thee ! But what art thou beside 
nights illuminated by these wonderful moons ? 

And what are eclipses of the Sun on these worlds ? 
Multiply suns and multiply moons, to what endless changes 
must your mutually-eclipsed lights give rise ? The blue sun 
and the yellow sun stand near each other; their combined 
light produces green on the surfaces illuminated by both of 
them, yellow or blue on those which receive only one light. 
Soon the yellow approaches the blue ; already it enters on its 
disc and the green spread over the world fades, and fades, until 
the moment when it expires, melted into the gold which pours 
in space its beautifying rays. A total eclipse colours the world 
with yellow. An annular eclipse presents a blue ring round 
a gold piece. By degrees, imperceptibly, the green revives 
and holds its empire. 

Let us add to this phenomenon another which would be 
produced if a moon came over the beautiful middle of this 
golden eclipse, to cover the yellow sun itself and to plunge 
the world in obscurity, then follow the relations existing 
between its movement and that of the Sun, continuing to 
hide it after its departure from the blue disc and then to leave 
nature again fallen under the veil of a new azure. Let us 
again add, — but no, this is Nature's inexhaustible treasure ; 
however much we take from it it will not be impoverished. 

I will terminate these descriptions by a graceful poem, 
' The Song of the Stars,' by the American poet Bryant. 
These stanzas are in their proper place, after the harmonies 



128 Marvels of the Heavens- 

of light and charming colorations that we have just observed 
in the world of these distant stars : — 

' When the radiant morn of creation broke, 
And the world in the smile of God awoke, 
And the empty realms of darkness and death 
Were moved through their depths by his mighty breath, 
And orbs of beauty, and spheres of flame, 
From the void abyss by myriads came, 
In the joy of youth, as they darted away, 
Through the widening wastes of space to play 
Their silver voices in chorus rang, 
And this was the song the bright ones sang : — 

' " Away ! away ! through the wide, wide sky, 
The fair blue fields that before us lie ; 
Each sun with the worlds that round us roll, 
Each planet poised on her turning pole, 
With her isles of green, and her clouds of white, 
And her waters that lie like fluid light. 

1 " For the source of glory uncovers His face, 

And the brightness o'erflows unbounded space ; 

And we drink as we go, the luminous tides 

In our ruddy air, and our blooming sides ; 

Lo, yonder the living splendours play ! 

Away, on our joyous path, away ! 
1 " Look ! look through our glittering ranks afar, 

As in infinite azure, star after star 

May brighten and bloom as they swiftly pass! 

The verdure runs o'er each rolling mass ! 

The path of the gentle winds is seen, 

And the small waves dance, and the young woods lean 

And see where the brighter day-beams pour, 
How the rainbows hang in the sunny shower, 
And the morn and the eve, with their pomp of hues, 
Shift o'er the bright planets and shed their dews, 
And 'twixt them both o'er the teeming ground, 
With her shadowy cone, the night goes round. 



Distant Universes, 129 

*" Away ! away ! — In our blossoming towers, 
In the soft air wrapping these spheres of ours, 
In the seas and fountains that shine with morn, 
See love is brooding, and life is born, 
And breathing myriads are breaking from night, 
To rejoice like us, in motion and light." 

* Glide on in your beauty, ye youthful spheres ! 
So weave the dance that measures the years, 
Glide on in the glory and gladness sent 
To the farthest wall of the firmament, 
The boundless visible smile of Him, 
To th« veil of whose brow your lamps are dim.' 



BOOK III. 

THE SUN'S DOMAIN 



133 



THE PLANETARY SYSTEM. 

* Dans le centre eclatant de ces orbes immenses 
Qui n'ont pu nous cacber leur marche et leurs distances 
Luit cet astre du jour, par Dieu meme allum6, 
Qui toume autour de soi sur son axe enflamm^ : 
De lui partent sans fin des torrents de lumiere ; 
II donne en se montrant la vie a la raatiere ; 
Et dispense les jours, les saisons et les ans, 
A des mondes divers, autour de lui flottants. 
Ces astres, asservis a la loi qui les presse, 
S'attirent dans leur course et s'evitent sans cesse, 
Se servent l'un a l'autre et de regie et d'appui, 
Se pretent les clartes qu'ils recoivent de lui. 
Au dela de leurs cours, et loin dans cet espace 
Ou la matiere nage et que Dieu seul embrasse 
Sont des soleils sans nonibre et des mondes sans fin ... . 
Par dela tous ces cieux le Dieux des cieux reside.' 

Voltaire. 

We will now descend from the stars as a whole to a par- 
ticular one ; from the general contemplation of our universe 
to the study of a limited region. After having embraced 
the extent of this vast and imposing domain explored by 
science, we shall concentrate our attention on a single point, 
like the observer who, wishing to give an account of the posi- 
tion of a house in a landscape, after having first examined the 
neighbourhood and places which surround it, concentrates 
his attention on the house itself. If the immensity of the 
numbers or the infinity of this expanse no longer present 
themselves in this new contemplation in a way to astonish 
our mind and confuse our faculties, the inalienable character- 



1 34 Marvels of the Heavens, 

istics which universally distinguish the works of nature, will 
reveal to us more sensible and touching beauties, not less 
worthy of our attention. In nature's perfect work, the most 
modest of its creations present the Divine sign of their origin, 
and the most simple unfold a hidden splendour, not less 
wonderful than the most brilliant manifestations. Thus the 
splendid coruscations of the Aurora Borealis, which the gigantic 
shadow of an invisible hand lifts up on the icy pole, are 
produced in a brighter colour, and in a still more charming 
aspect, on the perfumed corolla of each little flower. 

Nevertheless, it must not be imagined that we are going 
to descend to small objects. They have still colossal forms, 
at the sight of which the imagination is confused. We are 
going to occupy ourselves w T ith the system of worlds to which 
the Earth belongs, and w 7 hich is commanded by the Sun. 
Perhaps even we shall feel greater interest in studying things 
which relate to us more closely, than in those whose distance 
makes us strangers to their most precious riches. 

Here we are at length, arrived nearly at our own abode 
in space. Descended from the heights of sidereal creation, 
after having commenced our study with the imaginary cir- 
cumference which the limits of our sight extended by instru- 
ments describe round the point we inhabit, we have gradually 
approached the centre. Is not the observation of our celestial 
position more interesting than that of the other cities of 
space ? 

The Sun which lights us is one of the stars of the Milky 
Way, a unit lost in the millions which constitute this 
nebula. But it is no longer as a star that we must now 
examine it, but as the centre of a system of worlds grouped 
around it. Around this luminous body are collected opaque 
bodies, dark in themselves, and which receive their light and 
heat from it. These dark bodies are called Planets. To 
render the study of them more easy, and to help to distin- 
guish them bettei, they may first be divided into two very 
distinct groups. The first, near the Sun, is formed of four 



The Planetary System. 135 

planets, of small dimensions relatively to those of the second 
group. These four planets are, in the order of their distances 
from the Sun, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars. 

The second group, more distant from the Sun, is also 
formed of four planets ; but they are large as compared with 
the preceding. These four worlds are in the order of their 
distances from the radiant body, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, 
and Neptune. These bodies are so bulky that the first four 
united into one would not form one globe of the size of the 
smallest amongst them. 

Now, between these two distinct groups, there is a third, 
formed of a considerable number of small bodies, of which 
109 are already known. These little planets occupy the 
space which extends from the first to the second group. 
Compared with the other globes of the system, they are very 
small bodies indeed, for most of them measure less than a 
hundred leagues in diameter, and in some even the diameter 
is only a few miles. 

These planets, great and small, are the principal members 
of the family. We must now add to them some secondary 
members, satellites which belong to some of them, and are 
grouped round the planets, like these are round the Sun. Of 
these satellites, the Earth possesses one, the Moon ; Jupiter 
four, Saturn eight, Uranus four, and Neptune, probably 
two. 

At what distances are these planetary bodies situated 
round the central body ? Mercury, the nearest is 35,000,000 
miles from the Sun ; Venus, which comes next, at 66,000,000 ; 
the Earth, 91,000,000; and Mars, 139,000,000. The group 
of the small planets occupies a more distant zone, in the mean 
266,000,000 miles from the central orb. Then come 
the four large planets: Jupiter, nearly 476,000,000 miles; 
Saturn, 872,000,000; Uranus, 1,754,000,000; and Neptune, 
the last, 2,746,000,000 miles. All revolve round the Sun 
at the respective distances which have been stated, and 
revolve in more or less time, according as they are more 



1 36 Marvels of the Heavens. 

or less distant from that body. The nearest having a 
shorter path to travel, and being more strongly attracted 
revolve more rapidly ; the more distant travel slowly, com- 
pared to the preceding. The Earth takes 365 days to 
accomplish its revolution ; Mercury only 88, whilst Neptune 
takes more than 164 years. These movements are regulated 
by an admirable and very simple law discovered by the 
illustrious Kepler, after thirty years of study. Expressed in 
astronomical terms, this law is thus announced : ' The squares 
of the time of the revolutions of the planets are as the cubes 
of their distances from the Sun.' In other words, by multi- 
plying the number which represents the distance of a planet 
from the Sun thrice into itself, w T e have double the time of 
its revolution multiplied by itself. A little attention shows 
how simple this formidable law, which directs all the celes- 
tial movements in space, is. Thus, for instance, Jupiter is 
five times further from the Sun than the Earth. I multiply 
this number three times by itself, 5 x ox 5= 125. Well, this 
number 125 is precisely double the time of the revolution of 
Jupiter, multiplied by itself. It is the same for all planets, 
satellites, and celestial bodies. I must add, for the use of 
those who wish to go further into astronomy, that these 
bearings are not rigorously exact, and that if they were, the 
system of the world would be soon overthrown. 

These movements, the formula of which was discovered 
by Kepler, are eaused by attraction or universal gravitation, 
this law having been discovered by Newton. All bodies in 
nature attract each other ; the Sun attracts the Earth, the 
Earth attracts the Moon, and in the infinitely small, as in the 
infinitely great, the elementary molecules are seen to attract 
each other by the law of affinity, and to constitute visible 
matter, which is only an assemblage of atoms in juxtaposition. 
It is in virtue of this universal force that the worlds launched 
in space describe a curve round the Sun ; from this rapidly 
travelled curve would follow a force which, like that with 
which a stone is animated when it starts from a sling, would 



The Planetary System. 137 

throw the planets out of their orbits, if the attraction of the 
Sun did not hold them captive. It is, indeed, attraction - 
which rules the world, as Eugene Nus has sung : — 

' La loi d'amour est souveraine : 
Partout son doux verbe est ecrit. 
Elle feconde, unit, entraine, 
La matiere comme l'esprit. 
La terre s'echauffe a vos flammes : 
Les cieux modulent vos accords. 
Amour, attraction des ames, 
Attraction, amour des corps ! ' 

To complete this sketch of the Empire of the Sun, we must 
add to the preceding, certain bodies which, without departing 
from his kingdom, are always journeying. From time to 
time they pay a visit to the capital, then return to the pro- 
vinces, at every imaginable distance. These are comets, 
wandering beings, if ever -there were any, indefatigable 
travellers, but which the powerful attraction of the soiar body 
always retains in the limits of his domain. 

Such is the little group of worlds of which our Sun is the 
sovereign. 

Imagine a magnificent vessel, the Great Eastern for 
example, sailing in the open sea. Around it move a quantity 
of little boats, which are insignificant in comparison, and 
around some of these boats children's little boats, like those 
we see in the ponds in our squares. The boats placed at 
different distances move round the large vessel, and the toy- 
boats revolve round these boats. Lastly, a quantity of canoes 
alternately recede from and approach the large vessel, moving 
in ellipses. 

This fleet of various small vessels is not immovable on the 
ocean ; and this is the most wonderful point. Besides all the 
circular movements of which I have just spoken, we must see 
the collective movement of the fleet, carried away on the 
liquid plain by the master-vessel. Fixed in the middle of 



138 Marvels of the Heavens. 

the boats which revolve round it, the brilliant great ship sails 
on the ocean, drawing with it all its little satellites without 
their perceiving it, occupied as they are in faithfully revolving 
round the centre. So the Sun which it represents sails in 
space, drawing with it the Earth, Moon, planets, comets, and 
all its system. Where is it going ? Towards what point are 
we all directed ? Which is the point in space which sees our 
great fleet advancing towards it ? 

4 Allons-nous sur des bords de silence et de deuil, 
Echouant dans la nuit sur quelque vaste ecueil, 
Semer l'immensite des debris du naufrage ? 
Ou, conduits par la main sur un brillant rivage, 
Et sur l'ancre eternelle a jamais affermis, 
Dans un golfe du ciel aborder eLdormis?' 

It would be difficult for me to tell you if we are going to 
strike against a rock or to cast anchor in a gulf; I rather 
believe that we shall continue our path indefinitely ; describing 
a gigantic orbit in the heavens. We are actually approach- 
ing an imposing constellation, the constellation of Hercules, 
situated between Lyra and Bootes. One day a small star 
will be seen to arrive in this constellation, between the 
stars (j, and n at a quarter of the distance from the second to 
the first. At this period the general aspect of the constellation 
will begin to change to us, seeing that the stars which we 
approach will get further from each other, as those which we 
leave behind will draw nearer together, and those on each side 
of us seem to fall lack; but this period is so distant from 
us that the best eyes cannot reach it. It is true the Sun 
carries us away with a velocity of about two leagues per 
second, Jbut there is such a distance between each star that 
this progress is almost insignificant. It must be remembered 
that there are stars whose movement is still more rapid. 

Such is the aspect under which it is proper to compre- 
hend the Sun in passing from its rdle of star to that of the 
head of a system. Now this last role will be the only one 



The Planetary System. 139 

that we shall study. The stars being suns, it is more than 
probable, that to study and completely understand their 
history, they must also be considered under the same aspect, 
and be equally surrounded by their respective families ; but 
these families are unknown to us, and man's mind is so con- 
stituted that it is difficult for him to entirely comprehend the 
sphere of known things, and he would be easily lost did he 
try to go beyond. Moreover, we always preserve, whatever 
we do, a little background of egotism, and we gladly reserve 
our attention for persons or things which touch us nearest. 
We have now passed definitely from sidereal to planetary 
astronomy. 



no 



Marvels of the Heaven*. 



II. 



THE SUN. 

*And see — the Sun himself! — on wings 
Of glory, up the east he springs. 
Angel of light ! who from the time 
Those heavens began their march sublime, 
Has first of all the starry choirs 
Trod in his Maker's steps of fire ! 

' Blest power of sunshine ! genial day, 
What balm, what life is in thy ray ! 
To feel thee is such real bliss, 
That had the world no joy but this, 
To sit in sunshine calm and sweet, — 
It were a world too exquisite 
For man to leave it for the gloom — 
The deep, cold shadow of the tomb!' 

Moore's Lalla Rookh 



The resplendent body which shines over our heads occu- 
pies the centre of the group of worlds to which the Earth 
belongs. Our planetary system owes its existence and life to 
it. It is truly the heart of this gigantic organism, as ex- 
pressed in olden times by a happy metaphor of Theon of 
Smyrna, and its reviving pulsations sustain its long existence. 
Placed in the midst of a family as father, over which it 
ceaselessly has watched from unknown ages when the worlds 
left their cradles, it governs and directs, both in the main- 
tenance of its interior economy, and in the individual role 
which it fills amidst the universality of the sidereal creation. 
Under the impulses of the forces which emanate from it 
or of which it is the pivot, the Earth and our companions, 



The Sun. 141 

the planets gravitate ro-nnd it, imbibing in their eternal 
courses, the elements of light, heat, and magnetism which 
constantly renew the activity of their life. This magnificent 
body is, at the same time, their support in space, the fire 
which warms them, the lamp which lights them, and the 
fertile source which pours out on them the treasures of 
existence. It is he who permits the Earth to float in the 
Heavens, held by the invisible network of the planetary 
attractions ; it is he who guides it in its way and distributes 
to it years, seasons, and days. It is he who prepares a new 
clothing for the sphere yet frozen in the nakedness of winter, 
and who invests it with a luxuriant dress when it inclines its 
pole covered with snows towards him ; it is he who gilds the 
harvests in the plains and ripens the heavy grape on the 
warm hills. It is this glorious body which, in the morning, 
spreads the splendour of the day over the transparent atmo- 
sphere, or rises from the sleeping ocean, which he will trans- 
form into charitable dew for the thirsty plains ; it is he who 
forms the winds in the air; the twilight breeze on the shore; 
the ocean currents which traverse the waters. It is, again, 
he who sustains the vital principles of the air we breathe, the 
circulation of life in the organic kingdoms, in a word, the re- 
gular stability of the world. Lastly, it is to him we owe our 
intellectual life and the collective life of entire humanity, the 
perpetual food of our industry ; and more than this, the activity 
of the brain which allows us to clothe our thoughts with a 
form, and mutually transmit them in the brilliant intercourse 
of intelligence.' 

What imagination is powerful enough to compre- 
hend the extent of the Sun's action on all the bodies sub- 
jected to its influences ? A million and a half times larger 
than the Earth and seven hundred times larger than all the 
planets together, he represents the whole planetary system ; 
and this system, which is a mere nothing compared with the 
stars, he draws through the deserts of space ; and these worlds 
follow him at his will like dark passengers carried away by a 



142 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



splendid vessel on an endless sea. He makes them revolve 
round him, that they themselves may imbibe in their course 
the support of their existence, he governs them with his royal 
power and regulates their formidable movements. Addressing 
him, the poet may say without flattery : — 

' Ta presence est le jour, la nuit est ton absence ; 
La nature sans toi, c'est l'univers sans Dieu ! '* 

From these striking manifestations of his power, let us 
now descend to his hidden actions. Let us see his light and 
heat act on the organism of the planets which regard him 
with love and take long draughts of his fertile rays, on the 
electricity of minerals and on the diurnal variations of the 
magnetic needle, on the formation of clouds and the coloration 
of meteors ; let us see them, these occult influences of light 
and heat, descending through the pure air even to our very 
souls so eminently accessible to exterior impressions, and 
communicating to them joy or sadness ; and perhaps we shall 
begin to form an idea of what a ray of sunlight is, in the 
infinitely small of terrestrial nature as in the infinitely great of 
sidereal phenomena. » 

' Ce coin de soleil condense 
L'infini de volupte. 
charmante providence ! 
Quelle douce confidence 
D'amour, de paix, de beaute ! 

' Dans un moment do tendresse, 
Seigneur, on dirait qu'on sent 
Ta main douce, qui caresse 
Ce vert gazon qui redresse 
Son poil souple et fremissant.' 

Lamaktine. 

But what is the nature of this powerful body whose action 
*a so universal — what fire burns in this vast censer — what are 

* Chenedolte. 



The Sun. 143 

the elements which constitute this splendid globe ? Does it 
contain in itself the conditions of an infinite duration, or is the 
Earth rather destined one day to see this lamp of life extin- 
guished and revolving henceforth in the darkness of an eter- 
nal winter ? These questions belong to a lawful curiosity, 
and we wish that a satisfactory answer could be made tc 
them. When we wish to appreciate the nature and great- 
ness of a high person, we do not generally seek to prove his 
defects, to study the blemishes in his character ; this would 
be a singular w r ay of judging his value; and even were 
this so we owe it to human imperfection, from which 
the greatest of us are not free. But if referred to a being 
whose distinctive character lay precisely in being not only of a 
magnificent purity, but also the source of all light and 
purity, people would not seek for spots to understand him. 
Indeed, the learned were very astonished 260 years ago, 
when King Sun, the god of day, was accused by the tele- 
scope of being constantly covered with spots, and would it 
not be still more astonished if it discovered that these 
spots were precisely the only means that the Sun gives us to 
penetrate his nature ? They almost believed on this occasion, 
that pride is in the inverse ratio of worth. The official 
savants of that time, the theologians and disciples of the school 
of Aristotle, were not willing to believe anything. The pro- 
vincial father of the order of the Jesuits at Ingolstadt, replied 
to Scheiner, one of the first after Galileo, w 7 ho had seen the 
Suu and its spots through a glass, that Aristotle had proved 
that, in general, all stars were incorruptible, and that the Sun 
in particular was the purest light possible, consequently 
that the pretended spots of the Sun were in the glasses of his 
telescopes or in his eyes. When Galileo made the same ob- 
servation, the Peripatetics exerted themselves to prove to him, 
books in hand, that the purity of the Sun was invincible, 
and that he had seen badly. And, indeed, who would have 
suspected such a thing ? Spots on the Sun ! This must be 
an error, and an evident delusion. In times of grave events, 



144 Marvels of the Heavens. 

the Sim's disc lost, it is true, its light, as at the death ol 
Julius CaBsar : — 

1 Ille etiam extincto miseratus Csesare Rom am, 
Quum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit, 
Impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem.' — Georg. i.466. 

It was Virgil himself who related the fact, and the author 
of the Metamorphoses confirms it in a touching testimony : — 

' Darkness, we see, emerges into light, 
And shining suns descend to sable night ; 
E'en heaven itself receives another dye, 
When wearied animals in slumber lie 
Of midnight ease : another, when the grey 
Of morn preludes the splendour of the day. 
The disk of Phoebus, when he climbs on high, 
Appears at first but as a bloodshot eye ; 
And when his chariot downward drives to bed, 
His ball is with the same suffusion red.' 

But these were exceptions, and it would have been great 
rashness to conclude that the orb of day was subject to cor- 
ruption. However, the Sun has spots, and the most curious 
fact is that these spots have enabled us to know its nature and 
physical constitution, whilst without them we should not 
have been able to acquire the slightest notion of the disposi- 
tion of this great body. Recent ideas, based on the chemical 
analysis of its light, have not yet sufficiently advanced to con- 
tradict this assertion.* 

Let us see then in what the spots of the Sun consist. 

Generally, this is the aspect which they present to us in 
the field of the telescope. (See fig. 25.) Two very dis- 
tant portions are noticed. At the centre a well-defined 
black region. Around it a region not so black or greyish 
compared with the surface of the Sun which surrounds it. 
The central part has received the name of umbra ; sometimes 

* This reads strange in 1870 !— Tn. 



The Sun. 



145 



at the centre of this part is noticed a more intense dark spot, 
which is called ' the nucleus." The exterior region of the spot 
has received the name of k penumbra.' When it is stated that 
the centre of the spot is black, this expression must be under- 
stood as relative to the general surface of the Sun ; for this 
centre, however dark it may appear by contrast, has been 
found of a light equal to two thousand times that of the full 
Moon. 




•:'-*= :;■; 



mm 




Fig. 25. A Sun-spot. 

We may be led to the belief that these spots, generally 
invisible to the naked eye, are insignificant movements 
carried on on the Sun's surface, and of small extent. It is 
not so. They are daily and very important phenomena. 
Some, of them have been known to measure 80,000 miles, 
that is to say, they are ten times larger than the Earth. Our 



146 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



globe falling into most of them would be lost as in a well. 
Besides being of this size, they are also the seat of various 
actions and prodigious phenomena. They are not formed sud- 
denly as a whole, but increase to the limit they attain, and after- 
wards diminish. Some only last a few weeks, others months. 
Now the movements with which they are animated, either for 
their increase or diminution, or in their internal action, are 
sometimes of unheard-of rapidity. Lately, astronomers have 
followed a dazzling meteor passing through a group of spots 




Fig. 26— A Cyclonic Sun-spot. 



with a velocity of two thousand French leagues per minute. 
In other parts, they have watched circular whirlwinds, drag- 
ging into their commotion large spots like the Earth, and 
swallowing them up in abysses with fearful velocity. Some- 
times are seen the crests of stormy waves extending over 
parts of the penumbra, and rising on the white surface of the 
Sun as a still whiter and brighter substance, doubtless pro- 
jected in their ebullition by interior forces. There have,* besides, 
been seen immense bridges of fiery substances cast suddenly 



The Sun. 147 

over a black spot, crossing it from one end to the other, like an 
arch of luminous striae, which sometimes is dissipated, and falls 
down into the abysses of lower whirlpools. This body, which 
each day pours out over our heads such a pure and calm 
light, is the seat of powerful actions, and prodigious move- 
ments, of which our tempests, hurricanes, and waterspouts, 
give us but a slight idea ; for these gigantic disturbances are 
not performed, as here, in an atmosphere of a few leagues 
thickness and over a few leagues area, but in proportions as 
vast as its atmosphere, which rises thousands of leagues above 
its surface,* and as its volume w T hich exceeds 1,450,000 times 
that of our globe. One of the first results of the observation 
of solar spots was to discover that the Sun turns on its axis 
in about twenty -five of our days. 

Indeed, if we watch for several consecutive days any of 
the spots visible on the solar surface, or a group of spots, 
or even the whole Sun, we shall not be long in remarking that 
the spots are all animated with the same movement from one 
edge to the other of the solar disk. If, for instance, we begin 
to follow a spot from its appearance at the eastern edge, we 
observe that it advances slowly towards the middle of the 
body, which it reaches about seven days after its appearance ; 
then it passes it, and continues its course towards the west , 
and seven days after it reaches the edge and disappears. 

After a period of fourteen days, employed in travelling 
over the opposite hemisphere, it reappears at the same place, 
and follows the path previously pointed out. These observ- 
ations evidently show that the Sun turns on an axis. This 
rotation of the Sun shows its spots in the following manner : 

If the period of the reappearance of the spots is from 
twenty-seven to twenty-eight days, this does not refute the 
number of twenty -five days before mentioned. The difference 
proceeds from the Earth not remaining immovable in space, 

* The recent spectrum observations tend to disprove this Tr. 

11 



148 Marvels of the Heavens. 

but turning round the Sun. In order that we might observe 
directly the duration of rotation, it would be evidently neces- 
sary, as a first condition, that we should remain at the 
same place ; for otherwise, if we turn round the body in 
the direction of its movement, we should still see the spots 
after the moment when they are invisible at the point where 
we were at first ; and if we go in the contrary direction, we 
shall cease to see them before they cease to be visible at the 
same point. Now, in its translatory movement round the 
Sun, the Earth advancing in the direction of its rotation, sees 
the spots two days and a half after they have disappeared at 
the point where the Earth was at the commencement of the 
observation. 

This rotatory movement takes place from west to east, 
like that of the Earth and all planets of the system. Thus, by 
telescopic examination, this body declared fixed and incor- 
ruptible in antiquity, is stripped of its two distinctive 
qualities. The diurnal rotation of the Sun is twenty-five 
times longer than that of the Earth ; but it differs essentially 
in its immediate consequences, because it does not produce on 
the surface the alternate day and night, which we derive from 
this movement. It cannot, then, be stated that this is the 
length of the solar day, for it is not the sign of a succession 
of light and darkness : the Sun's day does not go out, and 
the twilight of evening does not pale it. This world lives in 
a permanent light. 

It neither knows our seasons nor years, and the elements 
of our calendar cannot be applied to its astronomical role. It 
seems that the rapid succession of things which constitute 
our time, and the changing series of phenomena which 
we experience, do not fall to his lot ; continuance and endless 
duration are his appanage ; and he is freed from counting foi 
his individual personal life these successive ages which 
measure life and overwhelm it with their number. The great 
variety of nature separates it from the rank of the planetary 



The Sun. 1 4!) 

v/orld ; and it would be a profound subject of astonishment 
to an inhabitant of the Eartli if he were to visit a country so 
essentially distinct from ours, and to be able to establish 
a comparison between this strange world and his own. 



150 Marvels of the Heavens, 



111. 

THE SUN— (continued.) 

Quand le Soleil entra dans sa route infinie, 
A son premier regard, de ce monde imparfait 
Sortit le peu de bien que le ciel avait fait.' 

A. de Musset. 

Whatever may have been the preconceived idea by which 
opinions were regulated in favour of this beautiful Sun, 
this radiant body, so venerated that the idea of accusing 
it of spots was a blasphemy, it is nevertheless from observa- 
tion and study of these spots that the knowledge we have of it 
has been acquired ; so true is it that Science, superior to 
all prejudices, is the real ruler of the mind. The exami- 
nation of these spots — their form, and the changing aspects 
which they reveal in consequence of the rotation of the Sun 
(Fig. 27), has served as a basis to a theory of its physical 
constitution which many astronomers have successivel) 
adopted and established, from Wilson and Herschel te 
Humboldt and Arago. According to this theory, the Sun 
is essentially composed of a nucleus and an atmosphere. The 
nucleus is dark, and the atmosphere is enveloped with a lumin- 
ous stratum, to which has been given the name of ' photo- 
sphere.' The light and heat which it sends out to us does 
not come from the nucleus, but from this calorific and bright 
envelope. The spots are explained by supposing that they 
are openings formed in this outer envelope, either by gaseous 
eruptions issuing from volcanoes, or by powerful currents 
rising from the lower to the upper atmosphere, similar to 



The Sun. 



151 



vertical "hurricanes, or by quite another cause dependent on 
the nature of the body. The penumbras of the spots are 
formed on this theory by the lower atmosphere being endowed 
with the property of reflecting the light and heat of the 
photosphere and keeping it from the body of the Sun. The 
dark centre of the spots is nothing else but the body of 
the Sun itself, rendered visible by the aperture of the lower 
atmosphere corresponding to the opening of the photosphere. 
The spots are in this manner sufficiently explained, and also 




Fig. 27. The Sun's Rotation 

the different appearances observed on the solar surface, such as 
the pores with which it appears separated, faculae or white 
spots, or ridges, — phenomena caused by chemical movements 
carried on in the atmosphere in which various gases are 
mixed in the most varied combinations. 

This theory has appeared much better established since the 
funnel-like aperture which forms the spots becomes still more 
perceptible by the perspective views afforded by the rotatory 
movement of the Sun. In virtue of this movement a round 



152 Marvels of the Heavens. 

spot appears, and narrows in proportion as it travels further 
from the centre ; and when the portion of the sphere where it 
is situated disappears, while it keeps its entire length, its 
width diminishes until it presents only the appearance of a 
line. Moreover, the portion of the penumbra, or, in other 
words, of the funnel which is on the side of the spectator, 
will diminish in width, and will disappear before the rest. 
Lastly, when a large spot arrives at the edge of the disc, if 
this spot is large enough, it ought to be seen slightly hollow- 
ing the part of the solar disk which it occupies. Now these 
appearances, regulated by perspective in the case of the spots 
being openings, are precisely those which are observed. 

Astronomers are then generally of opinion that the solar 
nucleus is an opaque body, dark, like the Earth ; that it is 
surrounded with a fluid atmosphere ; and beyond this fluid 
lies a layer of substance endowed with the property of 
emitting light and heat ; it is this outer stratum which is 
called the photosphere. 

I say astronomers are generally of that opinion, for they 
are not all unanimous. A few years ago the physical sciences 
were enriched by a wonderful discovery, of which I shall 
speak farther on, by which light may be analyzed — that is to 
say, the elements whence it comes may be known. Now, the 
English and Germans, to whom we owe this discovery, having 
examined the nature of the solar light, found that there were 
in the Sun's atmosphere iron, sodium, potassium, barium, &c, 
whilst there was no gold, silver, copper, or zinc. This would 
have been in opposition to the alchemists of past times, Nicolas 
Flamel in particular : the Sun was to them a golden body, 
par excellence. All these materials, proved to exist in the 
body by spectrum analysis, were also revealed as being in a 
state of incandescence. So much then for the experimenters 
and theorists of whom I speak — the orb of day returned to 
what it was to our fathers — a body of fire. Indeed, not 
only did they again state that the torch of day, far from being 
dark, is an incandescent globe: that the light we receive 






The Sun. 153 

from it comes from its fiery nucleus, and not from its atmo- 
sphere ; but they again sought to explain the spots on 
this new hypothesis, and they proposed to admit that these 
spots were simply clouds, combining with each other in the 
solar atmosphere under the influence of a partial fall of 
temperature, and becoming opaque enough to intercept the 
light of the incandescent globe almost entirely. Other savants, 
sharing the same ideas on the physical constitution of the 
Sun, threw out the idea that spots were not clouds, but partial 
solidifications of the surface — scorise, such as we see form on 
the surface of boiling metals treated in a crucible. They 
explained even how the umbra of the spots is the thickest 
central part of these partial solidifications, which intercepts 
the rays emitted by the solar body more effectually as it 
is more solid, and that the penumbra would correspond 
to the pellicle which, in every formation of this kind is 
observed on the surface of melting metals, to be produced 
invariably round the scoriae. But although, having cleared 
science on some important points, and having rendered it 
good service, these researches are far from being ended, and 
founded on a solid theory ; they have not yet upset the reign- 
ing theory before explained.* 

The size of the Sun, 1,400,000 times larger than 
the Earth, exceeds the degree of our habitual measure- 
ments too much for us to hope to give a sufficient idea 
of it. In the matter of volumes, as in that of distances 
and times, the numbers too much surpass our ordinary 
conceptions to appeal to our minds, and every care that 
we take to represent them to ourselves remains almost sterile. 
Nevertheless, a comparison will be able to inspire at least a 
nearer idea of the size to which we refer. If we placed the 
terrestrial globe in the centre of the solar globe, like a kernel 



* A new light has recently been thrown on the question of the 
Sun's constitution by the spectroscopic examination of minute portions 
of its surface. — Tr. 



154 Marvels of the Heavens. 

m the middle of a fruit, the distance of the Moon would 
be included in the interior of the solar body; the Moon 
itself would be absorbed in it, and beyond the Moon to the 
surface of the Sun, following the same radius, we should 
still have to traverse a distance of 160,000 miles. From the 
Earth to the Sun are reckoned 91 millions of miles. It is on 
account of this great distance that this immense body only 
appears to measure a foot in diameter ; and this explains 
why the ancients, and Epicurus in particular, did not believe 
it larger than that measure. This distance equally explains 
why it does not appear to us larger then the Moon, which is 
only 240,000 miles away. From this it may reasonably be 
asked, how this distance from the Sun to the Earth could 
possibly be determined. The method is too complicated for 
me to explain it here in detail ; but an idea may be given of 
it without exceeding the limits of this chapter. 

Between the Sun and the Earth there are two planets, 
Mercury and Venus : the latter has rendered the greatest ser- 
vice in the study of the distance which separates us from 
the Sun. As its orbit (the circumference which it de- 
scribes round the central body) is nearly on the same plane 
as the Earth's orbit, it happens from time to time that it 
passes between the Sun and ourselves, and appears like a 
black spot crossing the luminous disk. This passage takes 
place at the singular intervals of eight years, 113J years — 8 
years, 113J years -f 8 years. At these valuable periods, 
astronomers of all countries forget their nationality, and 
listening to each other like brothers, place themselves so as 
to observe the passage of Venus in different countries. Two 
observers situated in the stations most distant from each 
other, note the two points where the planet, seen from each 
of their stations, seems to be projected at the same moment on 
the solar disc. This measure gives them the angle formed 
by two lines starting from their stations, and crossing each 
other on Venus, and passing on to the Sun. It is the 
measure of this angle, made by observers placed on all parts 



The Sun. 155 

of the globe, which gives what is named the parallax of the 
Sun. 

At the last transit of Venus, a French astronomer, Le 
Gentil — his name should have preserved him from such dis- 
appointments on the part of Venus — was curiously requited 
for his love of science and his disinterestedness. Sent to 
India by the Academie des Sciences, he embarked with arms 
and baggage to observe the passage of the planet in 1761 at 
Pondicherry. His great activity and ardour could not con- 
quer the chances of the sea voyage ; he landed a few days 
after the phenomenon had taken place .... The obstacles 
irritated him and increased his courage. He took the heroic 
resolution of remaining for eight years in the midst of that 
unknown country, in order to compensate himself for his lost 
observation; he waited for the passage of 1769, and then 
took all desired arrangements to make a perfect observation. 
The year and the day at length arrived ! The sky was pure, 
no obstacle hindered his long resolution from at last receiving 
its reward. But alas ! exactly at the moment when the 
black spot was about to enter on the solar disk, a small cloud 
formed in the atmosphere and remained before the Sun until 
the moment when Venus left the disk, putting an end to 
the possibility of all observation. The astronomer again 
took the voyage to France with a stormy sea, which brought 
his days to a close. Le Gentil, of Galaisiere, died in 1792, 
after having written an account of his travels. 

From considerations based on the magnetic action of the 
Sun, we may be led to believe that its light is of the same 
nature as the electric light, only incomparably more powerful, 
seeing that the elements which we have at command are 
infinitely inferior to those commanded by nature. However 
bright our electric foci may be, however dazzling their light, 
the whiteness of which astonishes us when it is projected on 
the solar disc, the electric light has the appearance of a black 
spot. 

The intensity of solar heat is not less difficult to conceive ; 



156 Marvels of the Heavens. 

the most intense of our furnaces, which rise to the teniperatim 
of white heat, does not give us a faint idea of it. 

However the following few comparisons will indicate its 
value. If we represent the Sun under the form of an enormous 
globe built up of a million four hundred thousand terrestrial 
globes, and covered entirely with a stratum of coal fourteen 
miles thick, the heat which it pours out annually in 
space is equal to that which would be furnished by this 
stratum of flaming coal. This solar heat would also be 
capable of melting in one second a column of ice which would 
measure 1590 square miles at its base, and 192,000 miles high. 

Lastly, it is curious to inquire how much this gigantic 
body weighs. It is a good weight : — 

2,154,106,580,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons ! 

If this globe were in the present day, as in that of Apollo, 
drawn by four horses, it would be necessary that the coursers 
had exceptional strength, especially to be able to go round 
the globe in twenty-four hours. Now, following the Sun's 
weight, that of our Earth, expressed like the preceding in 
tons is 6,069,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

When astronomers place the Sun in one of the pans of the 
immense scales with which they determine the weight of the 
stars, it is necessary for them to put in the other one, 350,000 
terrestrial globes to restore equilibrium. 

We need not fear that this gigantic body will one day be 
extinguished, leaving the Earth in icy darkness. It possesses 
in its colossal reservoir a sufficient number of degrees of heat 
for us to have before us millions of centuries, during which it 
would be impossible for us, even if this heat should decrease, 
to perceive it.* 

Yes, the resplendent star of day remains to us the most 
beautiful and the best of stars. We have observed its size 
and its power : no power is capable of rivalling it, science 

* Sir William Thomson has denied this. — Tu. 



The Sun. 157 

has not lessened its venerated image in our mind, and, as in 
our preceding studies, reality here is superior to fiction. 
Our homage remains, better understood and justified than 
ever. 

We can still say with Byron : — 

' Glorious orb ! the idol 
Of early nature, and the vigorous race 
Of undiseased mankind, the giants' sons 
Of the embrace of angels with a sex 
More beautiful than they which did draw down 
The erring spirits who can ne'er return. — 
Most glorious orb ! that wert a worship ere 
The mystery of thy making was reveal'd ! 
Thou earliest minister of the Almighty, 
Which gladden'd, on their mountain-tops, the hearts 
Of the Chaldean shepherds, till they pour'd 
Themselves in orisons ! Thou material God ! 
And representative of the Unknown — 
Who chose thee for His shadow ! Thou chief star' 
Centre of many stars ! which mak'st our earth 
Endurable, and temperest the hues 
And hearts of all who walk within thy rays ! 
Sire of the seasons! Monarch of the climes, 
And those who dwell in them ! for near or far. 
Our inborn spirits have a tint of thee, 
Even as our outward aspects : thou dost rise, 
And shine, and set in glory.' 

* Lord Byron's Manfred. 



1 58 Marvels of the Heavens. 



IV. 

MERCURY. 



4 How dear to me the hour when daylight dies; 
And sunbeams melt along the silent sea, 
For then sweet dreams of other days arise, 
And memory breathes her vesper sigh to thee.' 

Moore's Melodies. 



Above the Sun, in the west, when that radiant body sets, oi 
again before its rising in the east, is seen sometimes a small 
white star, slightly tinged with red. The Greeks called it 
Apollo, god of day, and Mercury, the god of thieves, who 
take advantage of night to commit their misdeeds ; for they 
saw in it two different planets, one a morning and the other 
an evening one, as they did also for a long time in the case of 
Venus, the Egyptians and Indians doing the same. The 
first gave it the names of Set and Horns : the second those of 
Boudda and Kauhineya ; names which bring to mind, like 
the preceding, the divinities of day and night. The Latins 
who, however, employed themselves very little with astronomy, 
in this respect remained in doubt. It has been only in later 
times that the identity of these two stars which, like Castor 
and Pollux, to which they are assimilated, never appear 
together, has been proved ; its evening name, Mercury, was 
the one retained. 

' Dans l'ocean de flammes incessamment plonge, 
Roulant sa masse obscure en mi orbe allonge, 
Divers dans ses aspects Merc tire solitaire 
Erra longtemps peut-etre inconnu de la Terre, 



Mercury. 159 

Cepeudant quand, le soir, le soleil nioins ardent 
Laissait le erepuscule eclairer 1'occident, 
Au bord de l'horizon une faible lumiere 
Semblait suivre du dieu l'eclatante carriere.' 

Daru. 



Being the first planet of the system, Mercury always 
remains absorbed in the royal radiation of the prince of day ; 
also, like a courtier, it is deprived of its individuality and 
blended in the personality of the ruling star. It gains 
nothing and loses much, seeing that it had not the honour of 
being known to the founders of astronomy. Copernicus 
despaired of ever seeing it : 'I fear,' said this great man, 
' that I shall descend, to the tomb without having seen the 
planet.' And, indeed, he who had transformed the system, 
of the world, and taken in hand each of the planets to place 
them round the Sun, died wuthout having seen the first 
amongst them. Galileo was able to observe it, thanks to the 
glasses which he had invented, but it could not be said he 
understood it sufficiently, as it was impossible for him ever 
to distinguish its phases. The adversaries of the new system 
opposed the first astronomers, Copernicus, Galileo, and 
Kepler, on account of the absence of phases in the planets 
Mercury and Venus. ' For,' said they, ' if these planets re- 
volved round the Sun, they would change their aspect to our 
eyes, as the Moon does, according as we see in front, in pro- 
file, or in rear, the illumined part, the side in fact which they 
turn towards the sun.' 

Copernicus and his colleagues replied, ' We do not dis- 
tinguish any phases, it is trve ■ but if it only requires them 
in order that you should adopt our system, God will cause 
that there may be some.' Indeed there were some, and here 
(Fig. 28) are those of Mercury. By the observation of the irre- 
gularities visible in the interior of the crescent or quarter, it has 
been observed that Mercury is rugged with high mountains, 
higher than those of the Earth, although Mercury is a much 



160 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



smaller globe than ours. The existence of a denser and 
higher atmosphere than ours has been suspected. In the 
middle of the last century, one of the numerous romancers 
who feigned voyages to the planets, pretended to know that 
the mountains of Mercury were all crowned with beautiful 
gardens, in which grew naturally not only the most succu- 
lent fruits which served as food to the Mercurians, but also 
the greatest variety of dishes. It would appear that in this 
happy world, it is not necessary to prepare, as with us, things 
for food; fowls, hams, beefsteaks, cutlets, entremets, small 




Fig. 28. Phases of Mercury. 

side-dishes, &c, were raised there in the same manner as the 
apples on our apple-trees, and when a repast was wished for, 
it was sufficient, to spread the cloth ; then arrived bird-waiters 
for your orders, who knowingly flew away, and in the 
twinkling of an eye, from the mountains, where the desired 
dishes were to be found, brought you them with the greatest 
haste. It is better, perhaps, to believe that the vegetables 
of Mercury possess these precious gifts, and that its birds 
are of such delightful intelligence, than to think with Fonte- 
nelle, that the inhabitants of Mercury are all mad, and that. 



Mercury. 101 

their brains are burned with the violent heat which the Sun 
pours upon their heads. But until an authentic voyager has 
made us sufficiently acquainted on this head, we will confine 
ourselves to the astronomical elements of the planet. It re- 
volves at a distance of 35 millions of miles from the Sun ; its 
diameter is 2960 miles ; its day is 24 hours, 3 minutes, 28 
seconds long ; its year, 87 days, 23 hours, 14 minutes ; and 
its seasons, 22 days only ; its mass, compared to that of the 
Earth, is only T y 5 ; its density is three times more than 
ours, and bodies which fall on its surface travel 7.45 feet 
during the first second of fall ; and, lastly, it receives six 
times and a half more light and heat than the Earth does. 
Its orbit is very excentric. 

Excentric means that in its movement of revolution round 
the Sun it does not always remain at the same distance from 
it : that it describes an ellipse rather than a circle. As a 
result, at certain epochs of its year it receives twice as much 
heat as at the opposite epochs. It will be seen that the word 
excentric is not badly chosen, as it represents a want of regu- 
larity in the circular movement of the planet. While we 
are speaking of this singularity, let us also add that of all 
bodies Comets are the most excentric. At certain times they 
approach so near the Sun that it is thought that they will be 
melted in his flames ; in the opposite part of their path, on 
the contrary, they go to such distances that they are lost tc 
sight, and wander in the darkness and cold of solitary space 



1 (J2 Marvels of the Heavens 



Y. 



VENUS. 

' Thou little sparkling star of even, 
Thou gem upon an azure heaven ! 
How swiftly will I soar to thee 
When this imprisoned soul is free ! ' 

The young poetess who sang this charming song, Maria 
Lucrezia Davidson, escaped from her earthly prison towards 
her well-beloved Star when she had scarcely seen her seven- 
teenth rpring blossom forth. Like the white morning and 
evening Star, she faded away at the first period of life, and 
only knew her dawn. Perhaps now even she resides in this 
isle of light, and contemplates thence the earthly abode which 
she not long ago inhabited ; perhaps she hears the prayers of 
those who, as she did formerly, allow their hopes to mount 
sometimes to the regions of the heavens. 

Some ill-disposed minds have asserted that although 
Venus is beautiful afar, it is frightful on a nearer view. I 
fancy I see my young and amiable readers ; and I am sure 
that not one amongst them is of this opinion. 

Indeed, all the magnificence of light and day which we 
enjoy on the Earth Venus possesses in a higher degree. 
Like our globe, it is surrounded by a transparent atmosphere, 
in the midst of which are combined thousands and thousands 
of shades of light. Clouds rise from the stormy ocean, and 
transport into the sky, snowy, silvery, golden and purple 
tints. At morning and evening, when the dazzling orb of 
day, twice as large as it appears from the Earth, lifts its 
enormous disk at the east, or inclines towards the west, the 
twilight unfolds its splendours and charms. From here 
we can be spectators of this distant spectacle ; for we 



Venus. 163 

distinctly see the daybreak and the close of day in the 
plains of Venus. Day and night are of nearly the same 
duration as on the Earth ; the diurnal period of rotation 
of the planet is twenty-three hours, twenty-one minutes, 
seven seconds ; it is consequently thirty-five minutes less 
than ours. But between winter and summer there is a 
still greater difference than with us between the intervals 
which elapse from the rising to the setting of the Sun and 
that which separates its setting from its rising ; for this globe 
is more inclined to the plane of its orbit than ours. It is 
this inclination which constitutes on this planet as on the 
Earth, the variation of seasons, their duration and intensity. 
Venus being still more inclined than the Earth to the plane in 
which it moves, its seasons are more characteristic than ours, 
and its climate much more marked. Between the cold of 
winter and heat of summer there is a much greater difference 
than here ; it is almost as cold in winter and very much 
warmer in summer. From the equator to the poles there is 
also a more decided variation of climates than on the terres- 
trial sphere ; oar temperate zones are imperceptible on Venus, 
and do not exist even. The torrid and glacial zones con- 
stantly encroach on each other ; and as the year only occupies 
two hundred and twenty -four days instead of three hundred 
and sixty-five, the rapidity of this succession adds to its 
intensity. The snows, also, have not time to accumulate 
at the poles as on the Earth, Mars, and Saturn ; and the 
atmospheric variations cause a continual disturbance on the 
surface of the planet. Its mountains are much higher than 
ours. They have been measured at the period when Venus 
presents itself to us as a crescent. The inequalities which are 
noticed in the interior of the crescent are the highest points 
of the surface which still receive the Sun's rays after these 
have left the plain. The height can be concluded from the 
time that these light-points take to disappear. We have just 
spoken of Venus as a crescent. Like Mercury, this planet is 
situated between the Earth and the San ; and the circle which 



164 Marvels of the Heavens. 

it describes during its year is comprised in the circle which 
the Earth describes round the same body. Hence it follows 
that at certain epochs the planet Venus is exactly between us 
and the Sun ; and then it presents its dark part to us, as its 
illuminated portion is naturally on the side of the Sun. At 
other times, when it is to the right or left of the Sun, it pre- 
sents only a quarter. Lastly, when Venus is on the other side 
of the Sun, it presents its entire illuminated portion to us. 

As Venus revolves in an orbit, there are periods when 
it is only about twenty millions of miles from us (when it 




Fig. 29. Variations of the apparent disk of Venus. 

is between us and the Sun), and contrary periods when it 
is, 157 millions of miles distant from us. Its apparent di- 
mensions then vary very perceptibly with its distance. Fig. 29 
shows these variations. 

The phases of Venus were seen for the first time by 
Galileo in the month of September, 1B10, who beheld this 
spectacle with a joy impossible to describe, seeing that it 
eloquently testified in favour of the system of Copernicus, 



Venus. 165 

showing that like the Earth and Moon, the planets receive 
their light from the Sun. When I say that these phases 
were for the first time seen in the month of September, 1G10, 
you must not conclude that they did not exist before that 
epoch, but you must understand, that before that year no one 
had turned the telescope to the planet, and that with the 
naked eye, these phases are imperceptible. 

According to the custom of the period, the illustrious 
astronomer disguised his discovery under an anagram, to 
maintain the authenticity of this discovery in case of rivalry, 




ig. 30. Inequalities of the crescent of Venus. 



and to give himself time to continue his observations and to per- 
fect them. He finished a letter with this phrase : ' Hsecimma- 
tura a me jam frustra leguntur, d. y.' which means, ' These 
things unripened and as yet hidden to others, are at length 
read by me.' 

Under this cryptogram, it would be difficult to discover 
the idea of the phases of Venus. Our fathers were very 
ingenious, and in the present time certain discoveries would 
not have been so greatly contested, if astronomers had some- 



166 Marvels of the Heavens. 

times used the same ruse. In this phrase there are thirty- 
four letters. By placing them in another order, we get these 
words, in which the whole discovery is elegantly inscribed : 
1 Cynthise figuraa emulatur mater Amorum.' ' The mother 
of the Loves puts on the phases of the Moon.' 

Galileo was very cunning. Two months later, Father 
Castelli asking if Venus had phases, he replied, ' My state 
of health is very bad, and I find it better to be in my bed 
than in the dew.' It was only two days before the end of 
the year that he announced the above discovery. 

Has Venus a satellite? ' It would rather have two than 
one,' replied the friend of Cassini to the enemies of this 
astronomer. Many hold the firm belief of having seen it, 
but the question remains undecided. In the middle of the 
last century, it was so strongly believed in, that Frederick 
the Great, of Prussia, proposed to give it the name of his 
friend Alembert, from which the illustrious geometer excused 
himself in this little note : ' Your Majesty does me too much 
honour in wishing to baptize this new planet with my name. 
I am neither great enough to become the satellite of Venus 
in the heavens, nor well enough to be so on the Earth, and 
1 know too well how small a place I occupy in this lower 
world to covet one in the sky.' 

This globe presents the greatest resemblance to our own ; 
and it has nearly the same astronomical elements, size, volume, 
weight, and density; only it is much nearer to the Sun than we 
are. From the commencement of ancient poetry, its position 
near the Sun, which causes it to appear at sunrise and sunset, 
attracted contemplative minds towards it, and Venus became 
the star of all those who love to dream in the evening, from 
the shepherd returning from the fields to bosom friends whose 
souls commune with each other during the night. In the 
middle ages, a worthy father took an ecstatic voyage in the 
heavens, and in Venus saw only young people of ravishing 
beauty, living in the midst of perfect happiness ; in his sight, 
these were the guiding spirits of the planet Venus, for in 



Venus. 167 

olden times it was believed that a legion of angels or genii 
presided over the direction of each of the heavenly spheres. 
Later, the author of ' Paul and Virginia ' gave the most won- 
derful description of Venus ; it was a real terrestrial paradise. 
In cur time, the poet of thp ' Contemplations,' visiting the 
ancient isle of Cythera, which is now only a desert and bare 
rock, carries his mind back to the heavens, and there seeks 
the dwelling of Venus : 

' Venus ! que parles-tu de Venus ? elle est la. 
Leve les yeux. Le jour ou Dieu la devoila 
Pour la premiere fois dans l'aube universelle, 
Elle ne brillait pas plus qu'elle n'etincelle. 
Si tu veux voir l'etoile, homme, leve les yeux. 
L'ile des mers s'eteint, mais non File des cieux ; 
Les astres sont vivants et ne sont pas des choses 
Qui s'effeuillent, un soir d'ete, comme les roses. 
La terre a Cerigo, mais le ciel a Venus.' 

May the golden rays of this beautiful star still shine long 
on our evenings, opening to our minds a series of reveries 
which for the time transports us to the celestial world. May 
it still announce the starry cortege of still nights, and may it 
be the forerunner of peaceful and silent hours, which rock the 
soul in dreams of the past. 

' Etoile qui descends sur la verte colline, 
Triste larme d'argent du manteau de la nuit, 
Toi que regarde au loin le patre qui chemine, 
Tandis que pas a pas son long troupeau le suit. 
Etoile ! ou t'en vas-tu dans cette nuit immense ? 
Cherches-tu sur la rive un lit dans les roseaux '? 
Ou t'en vas-tu si belle, a, l'heure du silence, 
Tomber comme une perle au sein profond des eaux ? 
Ah ! si tu dois mourir, bel astre, et si ta tete 
Va dans la vaste mer plonger ses blonds cheveux, 
Avant de nous quitter, un seul instant arrete, 
Etoile de l'amour, ne descends pas des cieux !' 

A. de Musset. 



1 68 Marvels of th.fi Heavens. 



VI. 

MARS. 

' Je reconnais ses traits, c'est le farouche Mars ! 
Sa paleur que nuance une rougeur obscure 
Sans peine a tous les yeux distingue sa figure : 
Empreinte sur son front, cette sombre couleur 
Du dieu dont les guerriers admirent la valeur 
Nous peint la cruaute, la fureur homicide, 
Et du sang des humains sa soif toujours avide. 
Rien ne peut adoucir sa barbare fierte. 
Des mortels et des dieux son glaive deteste 
Souille toujours de sang sa funeste victoire. 

A son cruel aspect, la paix, la douce paix, 
S'eloigne, et des mortels retire ses bienfaits. 
De nos champs ravages on voit fair l'abondance. 1 

Ricard 



As you see, poor Mars has not been spared. All the male- 
dictions of mortals have fallen on Saturn and Mars. Be- 
ginning with war, that scourge of humanity of which it will 
have great trouble to' rid itself, all public misfortunes caused by 
power have been attributed to Mars, who if it knew what the 
Earth thought of it, ought to regard us with an evil eye. It 
is, nevertheless, innocent of all these calumnies, and we ought 
not to speak ill of it, presenting, as it does, most resemblance 
to ourselves. Indeed the world of Mars resembles the Earth 
so much, that if we happened one day to be travelling there 
and lost our way, it would be almost impossible to recognise 
which of the two were our planet. Without the Moon, 
which would charitably remove our uncertainty, we should 
run a great risk of arriving amongst the inhabitants 



Mars, 169 

of Mars, expecting to descend into Europe or some other 
terrestrial quarter. Indeed, the planet Mars in our tele- 
scopes presents the same aspect as the Earth must do to 
the inhabitants of Venus ; a circular disk, rather flattened, 
turning on itself in about twenty -four hours, furrowed from 
time to time by fleeting clouds, diversified with here dark 
and there light plains ; revolving obliquely on an axis en- 
veloped with an atmosphere and with snow -covered poles. 
On this planet the seasons are nearly of the same intensity as 




Fig. 31. Mars. 

our own, but their duration is twice as long ; for Mars only 
accomplishes its annual revolution round the Sun in 1 year, 
321 days, and 22 hours, or 1 year, 10 months, and 21 days. 
The masses of ice we see at its poles partly melt in the 
spring of each hemisphere, and again form in the autumn, as 
occurs on our globe ; and as the seasons are complementary 
on both hemispheres, the southern pole diminishes while the 
northern pole increases, and alternately. From this melting 
of snows result the changes of temperature and the cloud- 



1 70 Marvels of the Heavens. 

movements which are observed; one part of the water is 
evaporated into clouds, the other part swells the rivers and 
descends to the sea. Thus the fundamental characteristics 
of the terrestrial seasons are again found on the neighbouring 
planet. 

We may, nevertheless, notice certain differences between 
the aspect of Mars and our own world. Whereas the 
Earth seen at a distance must appear tinted with green, 
on account of the colour of its atmosphere, its vegetation 
and waters, Mars is shaded with red, and it is this 
shade which gives it the reddish light with which it is seen 
to shine. Doubtless this characteristic colour is produced by 
the dominant colouring of its surface, either its soil is thus 
coloured like that of our deserts, or its seas, its vegetation, or 
the vapours rising into its atmosphere, are chiefly clothed with 
this shade. Nevertheless, the poles always preserve their 
brilliant light. An ancient philosopher, Anaxagoras, stated 
that snow was black : his paradox had been somewhat 
smoothed or cleared if the snows of Mars, each time that we 
were able to perceive them distinctly, had been red ; but they 
are white also. ' The colour of the polar markings,' said 
Beer and Madler, two astronomers whose lives have been 
devoted to the study of Mars and the Moon, ' is always of a 
bright and pure white, in no way similar to the colour of 
the other parts of the planet. In 1837, it once happened 
that Mars was, during the observations, completely darkened 
by a cloud, with the exception of the poles which stood out 
distinctly.' 

Moreover, is the water of Mars the same as the water on 
the Earth ? Father Kircher was asked if that of Venus 
would be good for baptizing ? and it was not doubted. We 
ask ourselves whether there are the same chemical elements 
as there are here, and we doubt it. That the polar markings 
of Mars are masses of ice and snow, seems proved by ob- 
servation, as the changes which they undergo annually are 
occasioned, as with us, by the apparent movement of the Sun. 



Mars. 171 

This fact has been abundantly proved. When a snow zone 
is of large extent it is after the long winter of the pole to 
which it belongs ; when the same spot is very small, it is after 
a summer which has melted and successively contracted it. 
But from this it must not be concluded that the term snow 
signifies anything but an appearance, and there is no plausible 
proof to be relied on that the substance that we know under 
the name of snow is actually seen there, that is to say, 
water (chemically, an equivalent of hydrogen and oxygen : 
H 2 0) frozen into small needles. It is, on the other hand, 
possible that the constituent elements of the globe of Mar? 
are very different from those with which the Earth is 
formed, and their chemical combinations having been from 
the beginning submitted to other influences than those which 
are at work on our globe, there may exist but a remote 
analogy between the nature of this world and our own, and 
not an identity of matter. 

Removed from the Sun to a mean distance of 139 millions 
of miles, and encircling the Earth's orbit in that which it 
describes round the central body, there are certain periods 
when these two planets are very near together ; that is, when 
they are both on the same side of their path with regard to 1he 
Sun. Sometimes they are not more than 48 millions of miles 
distant from each other. It is this which makes Mars, after 
the Moon, best known to us, so that Kepler was able to 
say : 'It is from the knowledge of Mars that astronomy 
will reach us, and it is from the study of this planet that 
the future progress of our science will advance.' 

The conjunction of two planets is the point of their orbits 
where they are on the same side of the Sun, and are the 
nearest possible to each other ; the term opposition is given 
to the opposite point of their paths, when they are on oppo- 
site sides of the Sun, except in the case of Mercury and Venus. 
In olden times these positions greatly exercised the sagacity 
of horoscope-seekers, and heaven knows how many destinies 
have received fancied predictions, according as the god oi 



172 Marvels of the Heavens. 

war was in conjunction in such and such sign of the zodiac. 
The conjunction in the Bull was not at all the same as that 
which happened in the Virgin ; and when hy chance it had 
the misfortune to occur in the Goat, the most learned were 
lost in conjectures on the bad fortune predicted to the new- 
born. The interior planets, Venus and Mercury, whose 
orbits are enclosed in that of the Earth, have no opposition, 
but they have two conjunctions ; the superior, when the 
planet is beyond the Sun and in one right line; the in- 
ferior, when it is situated between the Sun and the Earth. 
The exterior planets, those which inclose the terrestrial 
orbit, and of which Mars is the first, have only the superior 
conjunction. 

At about 80 millions of miles, beyond the planet Mars, 
between the orbit of this planet and that of Jupiter, we meet 
with the group of small planets, of which we have already 
spoken. These are very little worlds, if even they deserve 
this name, which have scarcely the extent of a province, or 
even a department. They gravitate in this zone in con- 
siderable numbers, for there may exist several thousands. 
Already 109 have been discovered : the first in 1801 and the 
last in 1870. 

Perhaps they are debris of a larger world, shattered by 
some catastrophe : perhaps they have been formed in this 
region of space in the fragmentary state in which we now see 
them. This is not decided, seeing that science now, as 
in the time of Virgil, is not yet able to determine on the 
origin of things. 

1 Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas/ 

Putting aside the title of original greatness of these 
asteroids, and the fate which attends them, let us traverse 
their colony, and beyond it get near the most magnificent o f 
the worlds of our svstem. 



173 



VII. 

JUPITER. 

' — She said, 
" Oh ! that it were my doom to he 
The spirit of yon heauteous star, 
Dwelling up there in purity, 
Alone, as all such bright things are ; — 
My sole employ to pray and shine ; 
To light my censer at the sun ! '' ' 

Moore's Loves of the Anqels. 

The orb of Jupiter is more bulky than all the other planets 
of our system : it is only a thousand times smaller than the 
Sun, which makes it, if we remember the volume of that 
radiant body, from fourteen to fifteen hundred times larger 
than the terrestrial globe. Also, although it revolves in an 
orbit nearly 475 millions of miles distant from the Sun, and 
receives a much fainter light than that received by the Earth, 
its size is evidenced by the light with which it shines 
during our starry nights, equal and often superior to that 
with which Venus shines. Jupiter is therefore reckoned 
among the most beautiful objects of the heavens. As it is 
always in the zodiac, and when Venus is visible in the 
evening, it is always in the west, it is easily recognised. 
At whatever period of the year, therefore, you see a very 
bright star, either in the east, or high up among the zodiacal 
constellations, you may be certain that it is Jupiter.* 

* A great many persons are desirous of being able to observe the 
planets among the stars, and of knowing in what part of the sky they 
may be found each night of the year. It is to supply this want that 
in the author's Etudes et Lectures sur VAstronomie, he has completely 
calculated and described the astronomical phenomena of each month, 
find sketched on a celestial map the future paths of the planets. 



174 Marvels of the Heavens. 

This planet is a charming one, so far at least as we are 
able to judge from afar and without going there. To begin 
with, a continual spring rejoices its surface. If it is ornamented 
with flowers, which we do not doubt, though we know not of 
what these flowers consist, they do not only survive ' the span 
of a morning ' as our roses do, but live much longer. Scarcely 
have the oldest begun to dry up and fade but they are re- 
placed by lovely buds, opening before the first have died 
away. Not only is the Jovian year equal to twelve of ours, 
but it is scarcely known when the yearly period begins or 
ends. No winters, no summers, always spring. 

Then Jupiter, as I have stated, presents a surface 126 
times more extensive than the terrestrial surface. I speak of 
surface, not volume. Now, a hundred and twenty-six Earths 
placed side by side, and on which the human race would be able 
to spread itself at will, would constitute a very line country. 
We ought, then, not to doubt that such an empire has been 
formed to serve as an abode for a human family, venerable 
and worthy of our respect. We reason thus apropos 
of Jupiter, because we have had the necessary means to 
measure and appreciate it at its just value. But it is necessary 
to add something to complete the comparison between this 
world and our own. 

Because we find, by observation of the Jovian planet, 
excellent reasons for believing that its inhabitants are very 
favoured, it does not follow that the aforesaid inhabitants 
make similar reflections on us. There is a very good reason 
why they do not occupy themselves with us, — they are pro- 
bably not acquainted with our existence. And, indeed, if ever, 
at a future time, more or less distant, you should happen 
to inhabit Jupiter, you would have great trouble to discover 
your old country. To do so you would have to rise a little 
before the Sun (and mark there are only five hours from the 
setting to the rising of this body on Jupiter) and five or six 
minutes before the rising look to the east for a very small 
white star. With good eyes, you perhaps would perceive it. 



Jupiter. 



175 



In this case, you would know that our Earth exists. Again, 
you would make the same search six months later, at the 
west, a few moments after the setting of the Sun. Such is 
the condition of the inhabitants of Jupiter with regard to us. 
They can never see the Earth during the night, although it is 
precisely in the middle of clear nights that we are best able to 
observe this magnificent planet. 




Fig. 32. Jupiter and the Earth. 



No. Jupiter is an earth, a splendid earth compared to 
which ours is only a moon. 

If we were allowed to observe Jupiter closely and to 
accustom ourselves to its nature, to live for some time in the 
midst of its train and to appreciate all its importance, we 
should think our globe very small after such a stay. We 
should be like the good villagers who came once in their 
life to see Paris, and who, if they had the misfortune to 



176 Marvels of the Heavens. 

remain there only a month, could not even think of their 
village ; it became eclipsed by the single remembrance of 
the splendour they had glanced at. This is precisely what 
our poet Beranger writes : — 

' Dans mon vol, sous mes pieds, qu'entends-je ? 
C'est le triste son d'un pipeau, 
Qui mene au gre d'un tout jeune auge 
L'un des corps nains du grand troupeau, 
Petit globe, objet de risee ! 
On dirait a le voir courir, 
Du savon la bulle irisee 
Qu'un souffle fait naitre et perir. 

4 Je demande a l'enfant celeste 
Si c'est son jouet dans les cieux, 

— Enorme geant, sois modest e, 
Dit-il, regarde et juge mieux. 
Je me penche alors sur la boule, 
Pret a la prendre dans ma main ! 
Dieu ! j'y voir s'agiter la foule 

Que nous nommons le genre humain. 

( Ma confusion est profonde, 
Et-ce done la notre sejour ? 

— Oui, dit l'ange, voila ce monde 
Dont peu d'entre vous font le tour. 
Ton ceil y distingue sans doute — 
Ces monts qui sont geants pour vou» # 
Ec votre Ocean, cette goutte 

Qui suffit a vous noyer tous.' 



177 



VIII. 

SATURN. 

' Seul dans notre systeme, 
fl marche le front ceint d'un double diacleme. 
Quels tableaux varies doivent otfrir aux yeux 
Ces deux echarpes d or flottantes dans les cieux ! 
Oui, Saturn e, a bon droit, en contemplant sa masse, 
Ce soleil qui pour lui n'est qu'un point dans l'espace 
Ses gardes, sa couronne et leurs orbes divers, 
Peut se croire le roi, centre de l'univers.' 

Daku. 

If you happen one day to take a little journey to the 
planet Saturn, which is scarcely more than 900 millions of 
miles from us, you would feel on approaching it an unspeakable 
astonishment, to which certainly no sentiment of surprise felt 
on the Earth can he compared. Imagine an immense globe, 
not only of the size of the Earth, but as large as 734 Earths 
put together. It revolves on an axis with such rapidity, 
that in spite of its size it accomplishes its diurnal rotatory 
movement in about ten hours. Around it, at 20,000 miles 
distance, above its equator, an immense ring, flat and relatively 
very thin, surrounds it on all sides. This ring is followed 
by a second, and this one by a third. Now, this system 
of multiple rings is only a few miles thick, whilst its diameter 
is 166,000 miles. They do not remain immovable, but 
are carried along with a circular movement round the 
planet, this movement being of still greater rapidity than 
that of the planet itself. The domain of the Saturnine world 
is not confined to this. Beyond the ring, eight moons are 
seen revolving in the heavens around this strange system ; 



178 Marvels of the Heavens. 

the nearest of these satellites is separated from the planet's 
centre by a distance of 120,000 miles ; the most remote has an 
orbit of 2,293,000 miles from the centre of the planet. 
Saturn then governs a system which measures not less than 
four and a half millions of miles in diameter. 

By the side of this world the Earth makes but a poor 
figure, and Micromegas was to be pardoned when on coming 
out of Saturn he mistook the Earth for a mole -hill. Its 
years are thirty times longer than ours ; of its seasons each 
lasts seven years and four months ; a change remarkably like 




Fig. 33. Saturn and its Satellites. 

that which distinguishes our own diversifies them : a re- 
generating spring succeeds the rigour of winter ; summer 
and autumn pour forth their alternate fruits. But the pheno- 
menon which draws most attention to this world is that 
gigantic ring which surrounds it. It was long before 
astronomers were able to give any account of this singular 
appendage in the planetary system. 

Galileo, who first saw on each side of Saturn something 
bright of which he could not distinguish the form, was 
greatly astonished with such an aspect. He first announced 
it under an anagram, in which Kepler himself could not 
discover anything, and as he had done with Venus, disguising 



Saturn. 179 

his discovery he gave himself time to bring it to perfection. He 
called it three-bodied for want of better knowledge. ' When 
I observe Saturn,' he wrote later to the Ambassador of the 
Grand Duke of Tuscany, ' the central star appears the 
largest ; two others, situated, one to the east, the other to the 
west, and on a line which does not coincide with the ecliptic, 
seem to touch it. They are like two servants who enable old 
Saturn to continue his road, and they remain always at his 
side. With a glass of small power, the star appears 
lengthened and of an olive form.' 

The laborious Astronomer sought in vain; he was not 
favoured in his researches as in the preceding ones. At the 
period when the edges of Saturn's rings are presented to us, 
they disappear on account of their thinness. Galileo, finding 
on a certain night the absolute impossibility of distinguishing 
anything on either side of the planet, where, a few weeks 
before, he still observed the two luminous objects, was com- 
pletely in despair ; he came to the belief that his glasses had 
misled him. Being entirely discouraged, he no longer ob- 
served Saturn, and died without knowing that the ring existed. 
In the same way later, Hevelius declared he was puzzled, and 
it was not until 1659 that Huygens, the real author of the 
discovery of the ring, made the first satisfactory observation 
and explained its structure. With the contemporaries of 
Galileo, Saturn was considered to be a bowl with handles ; or 
a cardinal's hat. In the middle of the eighteenth century, 
Maupertuis conjectured that the ring was only a comet's tail, 
wound like a turban round the Saturnian globe. Towards 
the end of the same century, Du Sejour wrote his ' Essai sur 
les phenomenes relatifs aux disparitions periodiques de 
l'anneau de Saturne,' in which he found, theoretically, the 
time of rotation of the ring : he presented his work to 
Voltaire with the following graceful dedication : — 

' Monsieur, accept, I pray you, the history of a respectable 
old man, with whom they will busy themselves on the Earth, 



180 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



whilst to know him will be an honour among men ; his fore- 
head is wreathed with an immortal crown ; he shines on us, 
and presents one of the most singular phenomena of nature. 
This aged person is Saturn. I hasten to name him lest he have 
another given him, which your modesty would prevent you 
from recognising. May this analogy gain for my work a 
favourable reception from you ! ' 

Without the last remark, Voltaire himself, and sooner 
than any one else, might have thought that Saturn had very 
little to do with the dedication. At 4his time, Saturn's 
system included, besides its rings, five satellites revolving 
round it. Since that time three others have been added, and 
the cortege id composed of eight members. The following 
table shows the order of their distances from the planet, their 
names, the order of their discovery, the discoverers, and date 
of the discoveries : — 



1. Mimas . 

2. Enceladus 

3. Thetis . 

4. Dione 

5. Rhea 

6. Titan . 

7. Hyperion 

8. Japhet . 



Herschel 


1789 


Herschel 


1789 


Cassini 


1684 


Cassini 


1684 


Cassini 


1672 


Huygens . 


1655 


Bond and Lassell 


1848 


Cassini 


1671 



Saturn has not been favoured by ancient poets, who did 
not guess at its grandeur and richness. Situated at the 
extreme limit of the planetary system, and marking the fron- 
tier until the period of the discovery of Uranus, he was con- 
sidered as the coldest and slowest of all bodies. It was the 
god of Time, dethroned and banished in a sort of exile. 
Misfortune to those who were born under its influence ! If, 
at the moment of birth, it was in the zodiacal sign of the 
month, the newly-born had nothing more to ask than to go 
again into nothingness. For a thousand years, a considerable 



Satn 



181 



number of serious men had full and entire faith in 
horoscopy, themselves deceived through ignorance and often 




in sincerity. These ideas, happily having given way before the 
light of science, are too curious for me not to give a slight 



182 Marvels of the Heavens. 

specimen. Hear, for example, an astrologer, who wrote, 
1574, the following absurdities :* — 

' Saturn is in the seventh heaven. He makes rustics ; 
signifies peasants, labourers, and mercenaries ; makes thin, 
solitary, and dreamy people, who, when walking, keep their 
eyes to the ground ; it also signifies stooping, old people, Jews 
and beggars, mechanics and people of low condition, and 
causes death, ice, and epidemics ; in short, it has no light 
except that which others impart to it.' So much for the con- 
ditions ; but this is as nothing to the influence of this un- 
fortunate on diseases. 

' Saturn,' says La Martiniere, ' is a dull, dry, nocturnal, 
and malevolent planet, to whom are attributed long, quartan, 
or daily fevers, indispositions of the tongue, arms, and 
bladder, general paralysis, gouts, abscesses, obstructions of 
the heart and spleen, the black jaundice, polypus, diseases of 
the intestines — such as windy colics, piles, hemorrhoids, 
hernia, corns on the feet, spitting of blood, canine appetite, 
difficulty of breathing, stones in the loins and bladder, 
epilepsy, cachexy, dropsy, melancholy, leprosy, and other 
diseases proceeding from foul and putrifying humours . . . .' 
(all cannot be quoted). Those who are born in its season 
are melancholy and phlegmatic' Saturn has no idea of 
having caused such misfortunes to the inhabitants of the 
earth. Let us hope, for our reputation there, that astrologers 
in Saturn will not have used reprisals ; for then, of what 
sorcery will they not accuse us ? But we have good reason 
for believing that we are not viewed ill by the Saturnians ; for 
this reason (which, however, does not do us great honour), 
that from Saturn they do not see the Earth, as our globe is 
too small, and is hidden by the Sun. 

According to a still more singular author, the devil may 
be made to appear to us, by invoking him, on the Sabbath- 
day, Saturday, consecrated to Saturn by a cabalistic formula, 

* La Taille de Bondaroy, Geomancie abreyee. 



Saturn. 183 

extremely long anil difficult to pronounce, and by presenting 
to Saturn a perfume composed as follows : — ' Mix the seed of 
poppy and henbane, mandrake root, powdered loadstone, and 
good myrrh : reduce these drugs to fine powder, and mix 
them with some blood of bats and brain of black cats,' &c. 
I will not give the whole, lest you might try the recipe. 

Each planet influenced the destinies of men, according to 
the date of their birth. Thus in the first sign of the zodiac, 
' Jupiter made bishops, prelates, nobles, powerful people, 
judges, philosophers, wise men, merchants, and bankers. 
Mars signified warriors, firebrands, murderers, doctors, - 
barbers, butchers, goldsmiths, cooks, bakers, and all trades 
having to do with fire. Venus produces queens and beautiful 
women, apothecaries (how well that follows !), tailors, workers 
in jewels and ornaments, cloth -merchants, gamesters, those 
who frequent public-houses, those who play with thimbles, 
libertines, and brigands. Mercury produces clerks, philoso- 
phers, astrologers, geometers, arithmeticians, Latin authors, 
painters, ingenious and cunning workmen, both men and 
women, and their arts.' 

Mars may be compared to Saturn for the bad reputation 
given to it by astrologers. The following sentence will 
suffice to show this : ' People over whom Mars presides are 
rough, rude, and invincible, and can be prevailed upon 
by no reason ; they are obstinate, quarrelsome, rash, daring, 
violent, and accustomed to be deceived by report ; gluttons, 
digesting various meats ; strong, robust, imperious ; with 
bloodshot eyes, red hair, not possessing affection towards 
their friends, but exercising the arts of fire and sword ; in 
short, Mars generally produces furious, quarrelsome, dissolute, 
self-conceited and choleric men.' 

As to Venus, no star has had such a favourable influence. 
It is useless to state in what its action chiefly consisted ; but 
it appeared that those over whom it presided were most 
happy mortals. These odd and erroneous ideas on a pre- 
tended influence of the planets, and all those which consti- 



184 Marvels of the Heavens. 

tuted the vast astrological domain, arose from man's super- 
stition, which is always attracted towards the wonderful, and 
his pride, which represented the universe as formed expressly 
for him. As long as the old system of the world, founded on 
appearances, reigned, man was a prey to this morbid error. 
The torch of true science — of science founded on discussed 
observations and calculation, was alone capable of bringing 
light into the midst of this darkness, and dissipating it in 
proportion as man shall rise more in true knowledge. It will 
be a more glorious title of honour for the centuries which are to 
come, to have delivered the human mind from these illusions, 
and for ever to have triumphed over them. Often, in those 
times when man's life was so easily sacrificed, astrologers, al- 
chymists, and sorcerers were burned alive, hung, broken on 
the wheel, beheaded, quartered, or executed by long tortures, 
for having predicted badly. I could point out hundreds of 
sorcerers burned for pretended witchcraft, or for profanations 
which arose rather from their credulity than their wickedness ; 
astrologers hung or drowned according to the good pleasure 
of princes ; seekers of the philosopher's stone executed for 
having made a compact with the devil, but this is not the 
place; and in speaking of astrology in this chapter on 
Saturn, I have only wished to profit by the circumstance to 
show once again what benefits we owe to science, and to what 
depths man could again fall if ever the torch of science were 
extinguished. Saturn's world deserves something better from 
our hands. Not only do we deny the sinister influences of 
which he is the supposed author, but again we admire in him 
a magnificent abode of life, in the midst of which the forces 
of nature continue under aspects which are still unknown to 
us. Amid his splendid rings, and rich system of eight 
moons, he reigns peacefully in the heavens ; and we love to 
contemplate his venerable figure, in those distant regions, as 
the type of a creation already advanced in that era of per- 
fection to which all beings aspire. This disquieting Saturn 
has not always been treated with more respect by the moderns 



Saturn. 185 

than by the ancients ; has it. in its turn, a bad star ? Some 
people still regard it with an evil eye, — for instance, the 
author of the ' Contemplations,' made it the place of chastise- 
ment of wicked souls, whilst the happy ones passed from 
sphere to sphere : — 

1 Chacun ferait ce voyage des ames 
Pourvu qu'il ait souffert, pourvu qu'il ait pleure. 
Tous, hormis les mediants, dont les esprits infames 
Sont comme un livre dechire. 

• Ceux-la, Saturn e, un globe horrible et solitaire, 
Les prendra pour un temps ou Dieu voudra punir, 
Chaties a, la fois par le ciel et la terre, 
Par Inspiration et par le souvenir.' 

' Saturne ! sphere enorme ! astre aux aspects funebres ! 
Bagne du ciel, prison dont le soupirail luit ! 
Monde en proie a la brume, aux souffles, aux tenebres 
Enfer fait d'hiver et de nuit !' 

This would be hateful ! Let us hope that there are in 
this picture reminiscences of the ancient ideas on Saturn, 
and that this globe is less frightful than it looks to the pre- 
judiced. This strange world does not want for riches ; 
and if we were able one day to visit it, doubtless we should 
find it much more beautiful than the Earth, and we should 
vow henceforth to reside in such a royal and majestic domain. 

Saturn, in the eyes of the ancients, kept the frontier of the 
solar empire, of which the composing Seven would not see 
their number increased. Science, daring and independent, 
which despises opinions and prejudices, has without scruple 
passed this barrier, and discovered two new worlds, which 
extended the ramparts of the solar domain three times be- 
yond their old position. 



186 Marvels of the Heavens* 



IX. 

UKANUS. 



' Mais la philosophie, en sa veille assidue, 
De la creation explore 1'etendue : 
CEil sublime, elle prend son vol audacieux, 
Du systeme elle atteint la borne qui s'efface . . . 
Quel est au loin, la-bas, ce globe merveilleux, 
Ce nouveau monde errant qui sillonne l'espace? 
C'est Uranus ; il suit son cours majestueux, 
Eeflechit du soleil la lumiere emanee 
Kt roule lentement sa languissante annee.' 

Helena-Maria Williams. 



On the 13th of March, 1781, between ten and eleven in 
the evening, a quondam organist of Halifax, who had him- 
self made the best telescope then in existence, observed the 
small stars of the constellation of the Twins, with a telescope of 
nine feet focal length, and a magnifying power of 227. During 
his observation he perceived that one of the stars presented an 
unusual diameter. Astonished and desiring to prove the 
fact, he took an eyepiece magnifying double, and found that 
the diameter of the star increased whilst that of the others 
remained the same. More and more surprised, he fetched 
his magnifying power of 932, being quadruple that of the 
first, and again observed it. The mysterious star was still 
larger. From that time, he no longer doubted ; this was a 
new body, not a star. He continued the following days, and 
noticed that it slowly moved among the others. It was 
then a comet. Herschel described it to the Royal Society in 
a paper entitled, ' Account of a Comet ; ' and the scientific 



Uranus. 187 

world of all countries registered this new cometary body, and 
set about observing it in order to determine its orbit.* 

The name of the astronomer was then so little known 
that it is found written in every way ; Mersthel, Herthel, 
Hermstel, Horochelle, &c. Nevertheless, the discovery of a 
new comet was an event important enough to induce a study 
of the new body. Laplace, Mechain, Boscowich, and Lexell, 
endeavoured to determine the orbit along which it moved. 
Many months elapsed before they guessed that it was a real 
planet ; and it was not until after having observed that all 
the imagined orbits for the pretended comet were soon con- 
tradicted by observation, and that it probably had a circular 
orbit, much more distant from the Sun than Saturn, until 
then the boundary of the system, that they agreed to regard 
it as a planet. Still this was but a provisional agreement. 

It was, indeed, more difficult than was thought thus to 
increase unscrupulously the family of the Sun. Many reasons 
of propriety were opposed to it. Old ideas are tyrannical. 
It had been the custom for so long to regard the venerable 
Saturn as keeper of the frontiers, that it required a great 
effort to determine upon withdrawing these frontiers, and 
guarding them by a new world. It happened in this as in 
the discovery of the small planets situated between Mars and 
Jupiter. Two years before this discovery was made, Kepler 
imagined, for the harmony of the world, a large planet in this 
space, and the most frivolous and senseless considerations were 
urged against it. For instance, they reasoned : ' There are 
only seven openings in the head, the two eyes, the two ears, 
the two nostrils, and the mouth : there are only seven metals, 
there are but seven days in the week ; therefore there are but 



* 'If Herschel had directed his telescope towards the constellation 
of the Twins eleven days sooner,' said Arago, ' the real movement of 
Uranus would have escaped him, for this planet was on the second 
at one of its stationary points.' It may be seen by this remark on 
what the greatest astronomical discoveries depend. 



u 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



seven planets,' &c. Considerations like these, and others no 
less imaginary, often hinder the progress of astronomy. 

When William Herschel, having been present as a 
spectator at the debates created by his discovery, came to the 
belief that his comet was a planet situated at the confines of 
onr system, he claimed the right, which was indisputably his, 
of christening the new star. Animated by a lawful motive 
of gratitude towards George III., who had appreciated his 
astronomical worth and given him an annual pension, he at 
first proposed the name of Georgium Sidus, George's star, 
as Galileo had called the satellites of Jupiter discovered by 
him, the Medici's stars, and as Horace had said, Julium Sidus. 




Fig. 35. Uranus. 



Others proposed the name of Neptune, in order to preserve the 
mythological character ; Saturn would be thus found between 
his two sons, Jupiter and Neptune. Others added to Nep- 
tune the name of George III. ; others again proposed Astrsea, 
considering the goddess of Justice was as far as possible from 
the Earth : Cybele, mother of the gods ; Uranus, the most 
ancient of all to whom reparation was due after so many 
hundred years of neglect. Lalande suggested Herschel's 
name to immortalise the discoverer. These two denomina- 
tions prevailed. For a long time the planet bore the name 
of Herschel, but custom has since declared for the mytho- 
logical appellation of Uranus. 



Uranus. \b l J 

The discovery of Uranus has increased the radius of the 
solar system from 872 millions of miles to 175o millions. 

Compared with the preceding, this planet is not very 
large, for it is scarcely eighty-two times more bulky than 
the Earth. Its seasons last twenty-one years, and its years 
eighty -four years and a quarter. Around it revolve eight 
satellites, six of which Herschel himself discovered. These 
eight moons are rather curious, for instead of revolving from 
west to east like all moons and planets of the system, they 
go from east to west, and moreover, travel at a singularly 
decided inclination. The reason of this, no one can tell. 

It was thus, at the period when European society felt the 
first miseries of the Revolution which was near, that Science 
with peaceful conquests saw its glory increase, and visited 
new skies 



190 Marvels of the Heavens, 



NEPTUNE. 

Hence the view is profound; 
It floats between the world 
And the depths of the sky.' 

Goethe. 

The world which here marks the frontiers of the system, ie 
situated at such a distance from the Sun, that the light and 
heat which it receives from it are thirteen hundred times 
less than that with which the Earth is enriched, so that 
no great difference can be noticed between the day and 
night of this distant planet, and to it the solar disk is nearly 
reduced to the smallness of the stars. Hence it follows that 
at its surface the stars of the heavens remain visible in the 
day as well as in the night, and that the Sun is only a more 
brilliant star than the others. From Neptune, then, the eye, 
situated between the planetary world and the starry heavens, 
is in a region where it must be much more sensitive and en- 
dowed with peculiar properties, which permit it to especially 
appreciate the sidereal world and its riches. 

2746 millions of miles is the distance which separates this 
world from the Sun. Until the time of its discovery, the 
frontiers of the planetary system already augmented by the 
addition of Uranus, were confined to an orbit of 1753 millions 
of miles in radius. Does this, then, imply that these are the 
utmost limits, and that analysis will not be able to go further 
and add fresh members to the already increasing family of the 
Sun? No When observations spreading- over a long 



Neptune. 191 

series of years shall have been made, and compared with each 
other, the universal law of gravitation by which the existence 
of this planet was known before ever being perceived in the 
field of the telescope, will prove the existence of others if 
others exist, which is probable ; and the progress of optics 
following equally the progress of astronomy will give to the 
visual power, again magnified, the power to discover such 
distant planets which will, doubtless, be of the sixteenth or 
seventeenth magnitude. 

Imagine a body a hundred times larger than the Earth 
carried into the gloomy deserts of space to the distance of the 
Neptunian orbit. It floats, isolated, in the obscurity of space, 
following an immense but purely ideal curve, and which 
exists only in theory in the decree of eternal laws. It follows 
this curve, and revolves on itself without ever deviating from its 
path. To finish its immense route and return to its starting- 
point, it requires 164 years. It will return and again pass 
through this mysterious point of space, which it passed nearly 
two centuries before. What power moves it ? What hand 
guides this blind body through the night of the distant 
regions, and what causes it to describe this harmonious 
curve ? It is universal attraction. 

Instead of following a regular ellipse round the Sun, the 
planet Uranus underwent, from some unknown cause, a per- 
turbation, which retarded its theoretical path, and extended 
its circular curve towards a certain point, as if an attractive 
cause had seduced the traveller from its path, and had made 
it deviate from its proposed route. It was calculated that, in 
order to produce at this point an attraction of such intensity, 
it was necessary that there should be on that side of the 
system beyond Uranus, a planet of a certain mass, and at a 
certain distance. Two astronomers, the one French, the other 
English, set to work at the same time in this research. They 
discovered the disturbing cause theoretically, and observers 
directed their telescopes to the spot thus indicated by theory. 
They were not long in actually discovering the body near 



192 Marvels of the Heavens. 

the spot pointed out, and they were able to announce to the 
world the most brilliant confirmation of universal gravitation. 
The distance of this planet had been theoretically deduced 
from a well-known empirical law called ' Bode's Law/ which, 
however, was first given out by Titius. It is as follows. 
Starting from put down the number 3 and double succes- 
sively thus : — 

3 6 12 24 48 96 192 384 

Add four to each of these numbers : — 

4 7 10 16 28 52 100 196 388. 

Now, it happens that these numbers represent the succes- 
sive distances of the planets from the Sun, even of the small 
planets which were not known at the time" this law was 
promulgated for the first time. The orbit of Mercury is 
expressed by the number 4 ; that of Venus by 7 ; the Earth 
by 10; Mars by 16. 28 describes the mean orbit of the aste- 
roids. Jupiter's is expressed by 52 ; Saturn's by 100 ; and 
Uranus' by 196. According to this there seemed a legitimate 
right to place the new planet at the distance of 388. Now, 
the real distance of Neptune is only 300 ; and it is to this 
irregularity of the series starting from Uranus that we must 
attribute the disagreement which exists in reality between the 
elements of the theoretical prediction of Neptune and those 
given by ulterior observation. 

It must be remembered that this formula is not, like that 
of attraction, the expression of the intimate force which governs 
the spheres. After Kepler had recognised the three funda- 
mental laws which we have before announced, Newton discovered 
the mode of action of this universal force, to which we owe the 
stability of the world. ' Bodies attract each other according 
to their masses and in the inverse ratio of the square of their 
distances.' In the immensity of the vast heavens, the gigantic 
suns of space obey this formula, and in the littleness of the 



Neptune. 193 

actions which are performed on the surface of the Earth, the 
mechanical functions of small beings do not escape its rule. 
It is the law of creation, sustaining the life of the edifice in 
the invisible as in the vast. ' Attraction,' says the author of 
1 Paul and Virginia/ ' is a harmonious lyre, which resounds 
under divine fingers.* 

When we contemplate these harmonious movements of the 
spheres in their orbits, in the system confided to the keeping 
of the Sun ; when we have seen that these formidable laws 
regulate the movements of stellar systems with the same 
sovereignty as they direct those which are executed around 
us, and when to this marvellous grandeur of the laws of nature, 
we compare human weakness and our insignificance in the 
midst of this sublime creation, we sincerely admire the genius 
of the men which rose to the idea of these causes : it seems 
that their power spreads itself to other men, and one feels 
proud of belonging to humanity. 

The beautiful verses of Delille's are worthy of Newton : — 



Penetrez de Newton l'auguste sanctuaire ; 

Loin d'un monde frivole et de son vain fracas, 

De tous les vils mortels qui rani pent ici-bas, 

Dans cette vaste mer de feux etincelants 

Devant qui notre esprit recule d'epouvante, 

Newton plonge ; il poursuit, il atteint ces grands corps, 

Qui, jusqu'a lui, sans lois, sans regie et sans accords, 

Roulaient desordonnes sous les voutes profondes. 

De ce brillant chaos, Newton a fait des mondes. 

Atlas de tous ces yeux qui reposent sur lui, 

II ge fait 1'un de l'autre et la regie et l'appui : 

II fixe leurs grandeurs, leurs masses, leurs distances 

C'est en vain qu'egaree en ces deserts immenses 

La comete esperait echapper a ses yeux : 

Fixes ou vagabonds, il poursuit tous ces feux, 

Qui suivent de leur cours l'incroyable vitesse. 

Sans cesse s'attirant, se repoussant sans cesse. 



1 94 Marvels of the Heavens. 

Et par deux mouvements, mais par la meme loi, 
Roulent tous Fun sur l'autre, et chacun d'eux sur soi 
pouvoir du genie et d'une ame divine! 
Ce que Dieu seul a fait, Newton seul l'imagine ; 
Et chaque astre repete en proclamant leur nom : 
Gloire au Dieu qui crea Irs mnndes et Newton ! 



\9* 



XI. 

COMETS. 

* Je viens vous annoncer une grande nouvelle : 
Nous l'avons, en dormant, madame, echappe belle. 
Un monde pres de nous a passe tout du long, 
Est chu tout au travers de notre tourbillon ; 
Et s'il eut en chemin rencontre notre terre, 
Elle eut ete brisee en morceaux comme verre.' 

Mouere. 

This announcement of Trissotin's to Philaminte, who begins 
the parody on the fears caused by the appearance of comets, 
would not have been a parody four or five centuries ago. 
These tailed bodies, which suddenly come to light up the 
heavens, were for long regarded with terror, like so many 
warning signs of divine wrath. Men have always thought 
themselves much more important than they really are in the 
universal order ; they have had the vanity to pretend that 
the whole creation was made for them, whilst in reality the 
whole creation does not suspect their existence. The Earth 
we inhabit is only one of the smallest worlds ; and therefore it 
can scarcely be for it alone that all the wonders of the heavens, 
of which the immense majority remains hidden from it, were 
created. In this disposition of man to see in himself the centre 
and the end of everything, it was easy indeed to consider the 
steps of nature as unfolded in his favour ; and if some un- 
usual phenomenon presented itself, it was considered to be 
without doubt a warning from Heaven. If these illusions 
had had no other result than the amelioration of the more 






196 Marvels of the, Heavens. 

timorous of the community one would regret those ages of 
ignorance ; but not only were these fancied warnings of no 
ase, seeing that once the danger passed, man returned to his 
former state ; but they also kept up among people imaginary 
terrors, and revived the fatal resolutions caused by the fear of 
the end of the world. 

When one fancies the world is about to end, — and this 
has been believed for more than a thousand years, — no 
solicitude is felt in the work of improving this world : 
and, by the indifference or disdain into which one falls, 
periods of famine and general misery are induced which at 
certain times have overtaken our community. Why use the 
wealth of a world which is going to perish ? Why work, be 
instructed, or rise in the progress of the sciences or arts ? 
Much better to forget the world, and absorb oneself in the 
barren contemplation of an unknown life. It is thus that 
ages of ignorance weigh on man, and thrust him further and 
further into darkness, while Science makes known by its 
influence on the whole community, its great value, and the 
magnitude of its aim. 

The history of a comet would be an instructive episode of 
the great history of the heavens. In it could be brought to- 
gether the description of the progressive movement of human 
thought, as well as the astronomical theory of these extraordi- 
nary bodies. Let us take, for example, one of the most memo- 
rable and best-known comets, and give an outline of its 
successive passages near the Earth. Like the planetary worlds, 
Comets belong to the solar system, and are subject to the rule 
of the Star King. It is the universal law of gravitation 
which guides their path ; solar attraction governs them, as it 
governs the movement of the planets and the small satellites. 
The chief point of difference between them and the planets is. 
that their orbits are very elongated ; and, instead of being 
nearly circular, they take the elliptical form. In con- 
sequence of the nature of these orbits, the same comet may 
approach very near the Sun, and afterwards travel from 



Comets. 



197 



it to immense distances. Thus, the period of the Comet of 
1680 has been estimated at 3000 years. It approaches the 
Sun, so as to be nearer to it than 
our Moon is to us, whilst it re- 
cedes to a distance 853 times 
greater than the distance of the 
Earth from the Sun. On the 17th 
of December, 1680, it was at its 
perihelion — that is, at its greatest 
proximity to the Sun ; it is now 
continuing its path beyond the 
Neptunian orbit. Its velocity 
varies according to its distance 
from the solar body. At its 
perihelion it travels thousands of 
leagues per minute ; at its aphelion 
it does not pass over m ^re than a 
few yards. Its proximity to the 
Sun in its passage near that body 
caused Newton to think that it 
received a heat 28,000 greater than 
that we experience at the simnar 
solstice ; and that this haat being 
2000 times greater than that of 
red-hot iron, an iron globe of the 
same dimensions would be 50,000 
years entirely losing its heat. New- 
ton added that in the end comets 
will approach so near the Sun that 
they will not be able to escape 
the preponderance of its attraction, 
and that they will fall one after 
the other into this brilliant body, 
thus keeping up the heat which it 
perpetually pours out into space. 
Such is the deplorable end assigned to comets by the author 




Fig. 36. Comet of 1680. 



198 Marvels of the Heavens. 

of the ' Principia,' an end which makes' De la Bretonne say 
to Retif : ' An immense comet, already larger than Jupiter, 
was again increased in it3 path by being blended with six 
other dying comets. Thus displaced from its ordinary route 
by these slight shocks, it di-d not pursue its true elliptical 
orbit ; so that the unfortunate thing was precipitated into the 
devouring centre of the Sun.' 'It is said/ added he, 
' that the poor comet thus burned alive, sent forth dreadful 
cries ! ' 

It will be interesting, then, in a double point of view, to 
follow a comet in its different passages in sight of the Earth. 
Let us take the most important in astronomical history — the 
one whose orbit has been calculated by Edmund Halley, and 
which was named after him. It was in 1682 that this 
comet appeared in its greatest brilliancy, accompanied with a 
tail which did not measure less than 32 millions of miles. By 
the observation of the path which it described in the heavens, 
and the time it occupied in describing it, this astronomer 
calculated its orbit, and recognised that the comet was the 
same as that which was admired in 1531 and 1607, and 
which ought to have reappeared in 1 759. Never did scien- 
tific prediction excite a more lively interest. The comet 
returned at the appointed time; and on the 12th of March, 
1759, reached its perihelion. Since the year 12 before the 
Christian era, it had presented itself twenty-four times to the 
Earth. It was principally from the astronomical annals of 
China that it was possible to follow it up to this period. 

Its first memorable appearance in the history of France 
is that of 837, in the reign of Louis le Debonnaire. An 
anonymous writer of chronicles of that time, named ' The 
Astronomer,' gave the following details of this appearance, 
relative to the influence of the comet on the imperial 
imagination : 

' During the holy days of the solemnization of Easter, a 
phenomenon ever fatal, and of gloomy foreboding, appeared in 



Comets. 199 

the heavens. As soon as the Emperor, who paid attention to 
these phenomena, received the first announcement of it, he gave 
himself no rest until he had called a certain learned man and 
myself before him. As soon as I arrived, he anxiously asked 
me what I thought of such a sign ; I asked time of hirn, in order 
to consider the aspect of the stars, and to discover the truth by 
their means, promising to acquaint him on the morrow ; but the 
Emperor, persuaded that I wished to gain time, which was true, 
in order not to be obliged to announce anything fatal to him, 
said to me : " Go on the terrace of the palace and return 
at once to tell me what you have seen, for I did not see this 
star last evening, and you did not point it out to me ; but I 
know that it is a comet ; tell me what you think it an- 
nounces to me." Then scarcely allowing me time to say a 
word, he added : " There is still another thing you keep back: it 
is that a change of reign and the death of a prince are announced 
by this sign." And as I advanced the testimony of the pro- 
phet, who said : " Fear not the signs of the heavens as the 
nations fear them," the prince with his grand nature, and 
the wisdom which never forsook him, said, " We must only 
fear Him who has created both us and this star. But as this 
phenomenon may refer to us, let us acknowledge it as a warn- 
ing from Heaven " ' 

Louis le Debonnaire gave himself and his court to fasting 
and prayer, and built churches and monasteries. He died 
three years later, in 840, and historians have profited by this 
slight coincidence to prove that the appearance of the comet 
was a harbinger of death. The historian, Raoul Glaber, 
added later : ' These phenomena of the universe are never 
presented to man without surely announcing some wonderful 
and terrible event' 

Halley's comet again appeared in April 1066, at the 
moment when William the Conqueror invaded England. It 
was pretended that it had the greatest influence on the fate 
of the battle of Hastings, which delivered over the country 
to the Normans. 



200 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



A contemporary poet, alluding probably to the English 
diadem with which William was crowned, had proclaimed in 
one place, ' that the comet had been more favourable to 
William than nature had been to Caesar ; the latter had no 
hair, but William had received some from the comet/ A 
monk of Malmesbury apostrophised the comet in these 
terms : ' Here thou art again, thou cause of the tears of 
many mothers ! It is long since I have seen thee, but I 
see thee now, more terrible than ever; thou threatenest my 
country with complete ruin ! ' 

In 1455, the same comet made a more memorable 
appearance still. The Turks and Christians were at war, 
the West and the East seemed armed from head to foot — on 
the point of annihilating each other. The crusade undertaken 
by Pope Calixtus III. against the invading Saracens, wa3 
waged with redoubled ardour on the sudden appearance of 
the star with the flaming tail. Mahomet II. took Con- 
stantinople by storm, and raised the siege of Belgrade. But 
the Pope having put aside both the curse of the comet and 
the abominable designs of the Mussulmans, the Christians 
gained the battle, and vanquished their enemies in a bloody 
fight. The Angelus to the sound of bells dates from these 
ordinances of Calixtus III. referring to the comet. 

In his poem on astronomy, Daru, of the French Academy 
describes this episode in eloquent terms : 



' Un autre Mahomet a-t-il d'un bras puissant 
Aux murs de Constant in arbore le croissant : 
Le Danube etonne se trouble au bruit des amies, 
La Grece est dans les fers, 1'Europe est en alarmes ; 
Et pour comble d'horreur, l'astre au visage ardent 
De ses ailes de feu va couvrir FOccident. 
Au pied de ses autels, qu'il ne saurait defendre, 
Calixte, l'ceil en pleurs, le front couvert de cendre, 
Conjure la comete, objet de tant d'effroi : 
Regarde vers les cieux, pontife, ct levs-toi ! 



Comets. 201 

L'astre poursuit sa course, et le fer d'Huniade 

Arrete le vainqueur, qui tombe sous Belgrade. 

Dans les cieux cependant le globe suspendu, 

Par la loi generale a jamais retenu, 

Ignore les terreurs, l'existence de Rome, 

Et la Terre peut-et.re, et jusqu'au nom de l'bomme, 

De riiomme, etre credule, atome ambitieux, 

%±m tremble sons un pretre et qui lit dans les cieux.' 

This ancient comet witnessed many revolutions in human 
history, at each of its appearances, even in its later ones, 
in 1082, 175 ( .', 1835, it was also presented to the Earth under 
the most diverse aspects, passing through a great variety 
of forms, from the appearance of a curved sabre, as in 1456, 
to that of a misty head, as in its last visit. Moreover, this is 
not an exception to the general rule, for these mysterious 
stars have had the gift of exercising a power on the imagina- 
tion which plunged it in ecstasy or trouble. Swords of fire, 
bloody crosses, flaming daggers, spears, dragons, fish, and 
other appearances of the same kind, were given to them in 
the middle ages and the Renaissance. 

Comets like those of 1577 appear, moreover, to justify 
by their strange form the titles with which they are generally 
greeted. The most serious writers were not free from this 
terror. Thus, in a chapter on celestial monsters, the cele- 
brated surgeon, Ambroise Pare, described the comet of 1528 
under the most vivid and frightful colours : ' This comet was 
so horrible and dreadful that it engendered such great terror to 
the people, that they died, some with fear, others with illness. 
It appeared to be of immense length, and of blood colour ; 
at its head was seen the figure of a curved arm, holding a 
large sword in the hand as if it wished to strike. At the point 
of the sword there were three stars, and on either side were 
seen a great number of hatchets, knives, and swords covered 
with blood, amongst which were numerous hideous human 
faces, with bristling beards and hair.' 



202 Marvels of the Heavens. 

The imagination has good eyes when it exerts itself. 
The great and strange variety of cometary aspects is described 
with exactitude by Father Souciet in his Latin poem on comets. 
' Most of them,' says he, ' shine 
with fires interlaced like thick hair, 
and from this they have taken the 
name of comets. One draws after 
it the twisted folds of a long tail ; 
another appears to have a white 
and bushy beard ; this one throws 
a glimmer similar to that of a lamp 
burning during the night ; that 
one, Titan ! represents thy re- 
splendent face ; and this other, O 
Phebe ! the form of thy nascent 
horns. There are some which 
bristle with twisted serpents. Shall 
I speak of those armies which have 
sometimes appeared in the air ? of 
those clouds which follow as it 
were along a circle, or which re- 
sembled the head of Medusa ? 
Have there not often been seen 
figures of men or savage animals ? 
Often, in the gloom of night, 
lighted up by these sad fires, the 
horrible sound of arms is heard, 
the clashing of swords which meet 
in the clouds, the ether furiously 
resounding with fearful din which 
crush the people with terror. All 
comets have a melancholy light, 
but they have not all the same 
colour. Some have a leaden colour; 
others that of flame or brass. The fires of some have the 
redness of blood; others resemble the brightness of silver. 



Comets, 203 

Some again are azure ; others have the dark and pale colour 
of iron. These differences come from the diversity of the 
vapours which surround them, or from the different manner in 
which they receive the Sun's rays. Do you not see in our 
fires, that various kinds of wood produce different colours ? 
Pines and firs give a flame mixed with thick smoke, and throw 
out little light. That which rises from sulphur and thick 
bitumen is bluish. Lighted straw gives out sparks of a red- 
dish colour. The large olive, laurel, ash of Parnassus, &c, 
trees which always retain their sap, throw a whitish light 
similar to that of a lamp. Thus, comets whose fires are 
formed of different materials, each take and preserve a colour 
which is peculiar to them.' 

Instead of being a cause of fear and terror, the variety 
and variability of the aspect of comets ought rather to in- 
dicate to us the harmlessness of their nature. 



204 



Marcels of the Heavens. 



XII. 

COMETS.— (continued.) 

* Ces astres, apres avoir ete si longtemps la terreur flu raonde, sont 
tombes tout a coup Hans un tel discredit, qu'on ne les croit plus capa- 
bles de causer que des rhumes.' 

Maupertttis. 



These are the expressions of the geometer to whom we 
owe some of the first measurements relative to the figure 
of the Earth. The following are some of the ideas put forth 
in his ' Lettres sur la Comete de 1742 :' — 

In the present day, it will not be believed that such dis- 
tant bodies as comets can have any influence on tilings here 
below, nor can they be signs of what is to happen. What 
connexion should these bodies have with that which goes on 
in the councils and armies of kings ? 

It would be necessary that their influence should be made 
known, either by revelation, reason, or experience; and it 
may be said that we have not met with it in any of these 
sources of our knowledge. It is very true that there is an 
universal connexion between everything in nature, as much 
in the physical as in the moral world; each event, bound 
to that which precedes it, and to that which follows it, is 
only one link of the chain which forms the order and suc- 
cession of things ; if it were not placed as it is, the chain 
would be different, and would belong to another universe. 

Reasoning thus, the astronomer doubts the non-influence 
of comets as well as he does their influence ; to confirm his 



Comets. 205 

ideas, he recalls those of others, and soon comes to the belief 
that comets cause many other events besides simple colds. 

Kepler, to whom astronomy owes so much, thought it 
reasonable that, as the sea has its whales and its monsters, the 
air possesses them also. These monsters are comets, and he 
explains how they are produced. 

Some people have believed that comets were expressly 
created every time it was necessary to announce the design of 
God to men, and that the angels had the care of them. They 
added that this explanation solved all the difficulties which 
could arise in the matter. Lastly, in order that all the 
absurdities with regard to them may be stated, there were some 
people who denied that comets existed, and who considered 
them as false appearances, caused by the reflexion or re- 
fraction of light. They alone understood how the reflexion 
or refraction was caused, without bodies to cause it. Accord- 
ing to Aristotle, comets were meteors formed by exhalations 
from the earth and sea, and this was, as may be imagined, the 
decision of the crowd of philosophers who believed and thought 
only as he did. In older times still, people possessed more cor- 
rect ideas of comets. The Chaldeans knew that they were ma- 
terial bodies and a species of planet, the courses of which they 
succeeded in calculating. Seneca embraced this opinion ; he 
speaks to us of comets in a manner so conformable with all 
that is known of them in the present day, that it may be 
said that he guessed what the experience and observations of 
moderns have discovered. 

It was after having spoken of the opinions of the ancients 
that Maupertuis explained his own. ' The regular course of 
comets no longer allows them to be considered as warnings, 
or as lighted torches to terrify the Earth. But although a 
more perfect knowledge than that which the ancients had, 
prevents us from regarding them as supernatural warnings, 
it teaches us that they may be the physical causes of great 
events.' He dreads the approach of the tailed bodies to the 
Earth. In the variety of their movements, he sees the pos- 



206 Marvels of the Heavens. 

sibility of an encounter with some planets, and, consequently, 
with the Earth, it cannot then be doubted, says he, that 
terrible accidents will happen from the simple approach 
of these two bodies, for such approach would make great 
changes in their movements, either because of the attraction 
which they exercise over each other, or because* of some 
fluid confined between them. The least of these move- 
ments would do nothing less than change the situation 
of the axis and poles of the Earth. That part of the globe 
which was formerly towards the equator, would be found, 
after such an event, near the poles, and that which was near 
the poles would be found towards the equator. • The ap- 
proach of a comet/ he adds, 'might have other still more 
frightful consequences. I have not yet spoken to you of the 
tails of comets. On these, as on comets, strange opinions have 
been held ; but the most probable, is, that they are principally 
composed of immense torrents of exhalations and vapours, 
which the Sun's heat draws from their nuclei. A comet, 
accompanied by a tail, may pass so near the Earth, that we 
may find ourselves immersed in the torrent which it carries 
with it.' 

Such is the perspective to which we are by degrees con- 
ducted by this physicist ; but he gives us a singular consolation. 
As the human race would all perish together in this catastrophe, 
being swallowed up by boiling water, or poisoned by mephitic 
2-ases, and as no one would remain to weep over the agony of 
the Earth, he tells us it is easy to console ourselves. ' A 
universal misfortune is scarcely a misfortune. It would be he 
whose unfortunately too-robust temperament would make him 
survive alone in an accident which had destroyed the whole 
human race except himself, who would have to lament ! King 
of the whole Earth, possessor of all its treasures ; he would 
perish of sadness and ennui : his whole life would not be 
worth the last moment of him who dies with those he loves/ 

Thus, in the last century, people still believed in the terrible 
power of these unhappy stars. In the present day, and 






Comets. 207 

especially since the famouM comet of 1811, country people 
have imagined rather that they predicted excellent vintages. 
These ideas are as void of proof as the former. Although 
these bodies have greatly lost their prestige, they have not 
been entirely despoiled of it. Moreover, who could efface the 
impression produced by some of their aspects? Often they 
have been considered as signs of curses hovering over men 
and empires. !Such is the lamentation of Byron in ' Manfred,' 
to whom the seventh spirit addresses the following words : — 

1 The star which Tides thy destiny 
Was ruled, ere earth began, by me : 
It was a world as fresh and fair 
As e'er revolved round sun in air : 
Its course was free and regular, 
Space bosom'd not a lovelier star. 
The hour arrived — and it became 
A wandering mass of shapeless flame, 
A pathless comet, and a curse, 
The menace of the universe ; 
Still rolling on with innate force. 
Without a sphere, without a course, 
A bright deformity on high, 
The monster of the upper sky ! ' 

Nevertheless, nothing proves that comets are gifted with 
any influence whatever, I do not say on the morals of men, 
but on the physics of the world. Their lightness, the extreme 
diffusion of their substance, induces us to believe rather that 
they possess no kind of action on the planets. Let us 
imagine that they are harmless. Like atmospheric clouds, 
whose magnitude, form, and shade, vary with the caprice of 
the winds and according to the fortuitous play of solar rays, 
the vaporous agglomerations which form comets, take every 
possible form under the impulsion of cosmical forces more or 
less intense. At their approach to the fiery body, their 
substance distends itself, assumes a wonderful size, and 



208 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



devdopes itself over an expanse of many million leagues. 
They are of such lightness and suppleness that a ray of heat 
may, at its will, cause them to take any shape : you have 




Fig. 39. Comet of 1811. 

an instance of this lightness in the comet recently observed in 
1862; the form and position of the luminous appendages 
changed from day to day ; and observers might have 



Comets. 209 

believed that even n portion of the substance of the nucleus 
flowed into space. On the other hand, thpir rarity is such, 
that out of the tails of certain comets we should be able to 
cut a piece the size of Notre Dame, and inhale it as a homoeo- 
pathic inspiration. Comets have been seen several million 
leagues long, whose mass was. nevertheless, so small that it 
would have been possible, without fatigue, to carry it on 
one's shoulder. Thus, the extreme variability of the cometarv 
forms ought to proclaim these terrible bodies harmless ; and 
we may say with the friend of the Marquis du Chatelet 
these words which represent, at the same time, the nature 
of the movement of these bodies : — 

' Cometes, que Ton craint a Tegal du tonnerre, 
Cessez d'epouvanter les peuples de la Terre : 
Dans une ellipse immense achevez votre cours ; 
Remontez, descendez pres de 1'astre des jours ; 
Lancez vos feux, volez, et revenant sans cesse, 
Des mondes epuises ranimez la vieillesse.' 

And, indeed, these celestial bodies are not exceptional 
phenomena ; they are subjected, like others, to the inexorable 
laws of nature. Two thousand years ago, Seneca wrote, ' A 
day will come when the course of these bodies will be known, 
and submitted to rules, like that of the planets.' The pro- 
phecy of the philosopher is realised. It is now known that, 
like the planets, comets gravitate round the Sun, and depend 
equally on its central attraction. Only, instead of moving in 
orbits, circular, or nearly so, they describe oval curves — very 
long ellipses. This is the great distinction established between 
them and planets. Instead of being opaque, heavy, and im- 
portant bodies like our planets, they are of great lightness, 
and extreme tenuity. One day, a comet carried away by its 
rapid march, traversed the system of Jupiter ; the satellites 
and the planet were for some hours surrounded by the comet ; 
and when the body had passed over them, they had not 



210 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



undergone the slightest deviation in their path. When 
Maupertuis, wishing to explain the origin of Saturn's ring, 




thought he had conceived an ingenious idea in attributing 
this appendage to the tail of a comet which was wound 



Comets, 211 

round the planet, he did not dream of the extreme rarity of 
these impotent vapours. 

The distinctive character of comets lies especially in the 
length of their course, and in the immense duration of their 
journeys round the Sun, thiough the celestial regions. 

The following lines are by the poet Conder : — 

1 Mysterious visitant, whose beauteous light 
Among the wondering stars so strangely gleams ! 
Like a proud banner in the train of night, 
Th' emblazon'd flag of Deity it streams — 
Infinity is written on thy beams ; 
And thought in vain would through the pathless sky 
Explore thy secret course. Thy circle seems 
Too vast for Time to grasp. Oh, can that eye 
Which numbers hosts like thee, this atom earth descry ? 



BOOK IV. 



, 



215 



I. 

THE TERRESTRIAL GLOBE. 

La terre, nuit et jour a sa roarehe fiddle, 
Eraporte Galilee et son juge avec elle.' 

Racine fils. 

While reviewing the worlds belonging to solar rule, we 
passed over the space which separates Venus from Mars, 
without noticing a body which occupies the mid-distance. 
This body, moreover, ought to interest us somewhat, for it 
relates to us more nearly than all the others. 

The Earth, isolated in space like all the other planets that 
we have seen, is situated sc me 91 million,? of miles from the 
Sun, and journeys along an orbit which it traverses in 
365| days. Like some of its companions, it has a faithful 
attendant — a satellite revolving round it. This is its little 
system, and the Moon accompanies it humbly in all its voyages 
through space. 

Like the other planets, also, it rotates on an axis with 
great rapidity, for at some parts of its surface bodies travel at 
the rate of 1000 miles an hour. It is spheroidal, and rather 
flattened at its poles, which proves its primitive state of 
fluidity. Of this state, a proof more easy to recognise still 
remains in its volcanoes, with their open craters, from which 
are ejected the interior substances of the Earth in the state 
of fusion and at the high temperature, in which they exist at 
the present time. Correctly speaking, the whole Earth is still 
a globe of liquid substances, melted by the intense heat which 



216 Marvels of the Heavens, 

glows under our feet ; for tne solid stratum of this globe — 
the crust which surrounds it, and on which we live, is not, it 
has been estimated, a hundred miles in thickness. The Earth 
resembles a thin glass globe, a yard in diameter, filled with 
metals in a state of fusion. If there were not some apertures 
— that is to say, some volcanoes, to allow the vapours to 
escape, it might happen that the globe would burst. What 
is the real size of this globe ? Imagine a gigantic die, each 
side of which would measure one mile in length ; you would 
have then a volume of one cubic mile. To form a volume 
equal to that of the Earth, it would be necessary to heap up 
260,013 millions of these cubic miles. 

What is its weight ? We have already glanced at it in 
speaking of the Sun's weight. To express it in tons, it re- 
quires a row of twenty-two figures. 

The weight of the atmosphere which surrounds the 
Earth, is not the millionth part of the weight of the whole 
Earth ; yet each of us carries on our shoulders a pressure of 
about 8000 pounds. Let us add, in passing, that this pre^ - 
sure, although not to be despised, is not perceptible to us, 
because it is counter-balanced by an equal pressure exercised 
in the opposite direction by the fluids within our body. 

The surface of the Earth is about 197,000,000 square 
miles. Of this surface, the ocean occupies 145,000,000 square 
miles ; only 52,000,000 therefore remain for terra firma. 
There is then only about a quarter of the Earth's surface 
which is habitable ; the remainder lies hidden in the bosom 
of the waves. 

By retreating into space, we should be better able to 
judge of the Earth as a star. At the distance of the Moon, 
that is, about 240,000 miles, the Earth would appear to us as 
the Moon does, being not less luminous and much larger. 
At ten times this distance, the Earth would still present to the 
naked eye a perceptible disk, and its light would be inter- 
mediate between that of the Moon and that of the stars. 
Again, at ten times further, that is to say, at the distance of 



The Terrestrial Globe. 



217 



the orbit of Venus, the Earth would be seen under the form 
of a beautiful star of the first magnitude, without any appre- 
ciable disk, as a brilliant point, similar to Jupiter. But if we 
go further still, the Earth, already promoted from the rank of a 
planet to that of a star of the first magnitude, will afterwards 
fall from magnitude to magnitude to the last order of visibility, 







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Fig. 43.— Orbit of the Earth. 



and would be finally lost in the depths of the invisible. It is 
scarcely necessary to add, that the light with w T hich it shines 
and with which it is radiant in sp ice is no other than the 
light received by us from the Sun, and it would be seen 
under every possible phase according as it would be observed 
fully lighted up, or from one side, or obliquely, or when 
turning round its opposite hemisphere to the Sun. 

The Earth revolves round the Sun, with a movement of 



218 Marvels of the Heavens. 

translation similar to that which we have noticed in the case 
of all the planets. It is this movement which constitutes its 
year. Its rotatory movement on its axis, which may he 
compared to that of a spinning top, constitutes its diurnal 
period, — its day. It is to this second movement that we owe 
the illusion of the apparent movement of all the stars. 

All that has been said on the dinrnfcl movement of the 
stars round the Pole Star, will be easi y understood if we 
reflect that this star lies in the continuation of the axis of 
the Earth. The Earth turning, suppose, from left to right 
in our northern hemisphere, all the objects situated outside 
it, that is to say, the stars, appear to turn from right to 
left, in the direction contrary to the movement which carries 
us on. When you are in a railway carriage, if you forget the 
movement of the train, the objects you pass will appear to fly 
behind you, and if you did not know for certain that it was 
you who were moving, believing yourself stationary, you 
would have the conviction that it was the trees and hills which 
are travelling. A similar delusion presents itself when we 
find ourselves on the top of a high tower, and the clouds 
pass rapidly above us. It seems as if the tower advances 
and moves under our feet. One morning, I was at the top 
of the steeple of Strasburg Cathedral, the sun had scarcely 
risen, and some clouds coming from the Rhine had entirely 
hidden the town and the whole lower space from me. These 
cloud-bands were driven by an east wind and passed below 
me. In spite of the complete certainty that I naturally had 
of the stability of the high cathedral, it was impossible to 
keep in my mind the feeling of reality, but the delusion 
carrying it away, I believed myself again in the train — 
the cathedral certainly moved towards Germany. I closed 
my eyes, but the movement continued its action in my mind, 
and it was not until ten minutes after, when the Sun had 
lighted up the scene, and cleared away the vapours, that the 
roofs of Strasburg restored me to the reality. The apparent 
movement of revolution of the Sun round the Earth, which 



The Terrestrial Globe. 2"iO 

seems to be effected from east to west, — the opposite of the 
real movement of the Earth, from west to east, — consti- 
tutes our day and night. The moment at which the Sun 
attains the middle of its course, the culminating point, is 
that which divides the day into two equal parts. The 
opposite moment when the Sun is diametrically under our 
feet, marks the middle of the night. From this it is evident 
that our noon is the midnight of the people who live in 
the countries situated on the opposite side of the Earth, 
and that, conversely, when they have noon, we have mid- 
night. The Sun then regulates time by passing over the 
heads of each of the nations which inhabit the globe. The 
civil day commences at midnight, and is composed of two 
periods : the morning, from midnight to noon ; the after- 
noon, from noon to midnight. Astronomers do not follow 
this custom ; they reckon their day from noon, and make 
of it one period, from hour to 24 hours, which they count 
from noon to the following noon. 

Let us now see how the Earth is studied, and by what 
means its different parts are recognised. 

As the Earth is a sphere, the two points at the opposite 
extremities of the ideal axis around which it rotates are 
called the poles. If we trace, perpendicularly to this axis, 
a large circle at an equal distance from the two poles, which 
would cut the sphere into two equal portions, this circle is the 
equator. Now, the distance from the equator to the poles on 
each side of it is divided into ninety equal distances ; these 
are degrees of latitude. Lastly, the great equatorial circle 
itself, or the entire circumference of the globe, is divided 
into 360 equal parts by other great circles passing through 
the poles, arranged on the sphere, like the slices of a melon ; 
these are the meridians of longitude. There are, conse- 
quently, 180 in each half of the sphere, and ninety in 
each quarter. These names, longitude and latitude, date 
from a time when the terrestrial region, which had alone 
been measured, was supposed to be an oblong figure, the 



220 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



length of which extended in the direction of the equator, and 
the width in that of the meridians. 

Degrees of latitude then are counted starting from the 
equator; either north or south, as far as the north pole or 
the south pole. The degrees of longitude cut them, and are 
counted from any point, being reckoned towards the east 
entirely round the globe. The line of the poles goes from 



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Fig. 44 — Divisions of the Globe. 



north to south, or south to north, indifferently ; the line 
of the equator goes from east to west, or from west to east. 
When we advance from the eastern to the western side, we 
do not change our latitude, but our longitude. If, for 
instance, we go from Paris to Vienna, we shall have made 
fifteen degrees of longitude towards the east. As the 
Earth is 24,000 miles in circumference, we see that each 
of the 360 divisions of its equator (in other words, each 
of the degrees of longitude) is equal to 69 J miles; this 



The Terrestrial Globe. 221 

value diminishes towards the poles. Moreover, as the Sun 
employs twenty -four hours for the journey it seems to make, 
it appears to travel 15 degrees an hour, 180 in twelve hours, 
and 3G0 in twenty-four hours ; each hour being equivalent to 
15 degrees. Thus, at Vienna, noon is an hour earlier than 
at Paris. Going on towards the east, the traveller will gain 
an hour every fifteen degrees, and if he keeps his watch ac- 
cording to London time, it will be an hour slow for every fifteen 
degrees. If he goes round the world travelling east, and 
if he sets his watch by the time of the countries through 
which he travels, it will advance on London time, in pro- 
portion as he continues his journey ; when he arrives in 
London after having thus made the tour of the world easterly, 
he will have gained twenty-four hours,, and will reckon a day 
more than we do : it will be Monday with him whilst with 
us it is Sunday. 

It is on account of this difference in the time that if, on 
visiting the borders of the Rhine, you take the train at Kehl 
for Strasburg, as the Kehl station is regulated by the Baden 
time, and that of Strasburg by Paris time, you will arrive at 
Strasburg ten minutes before the time of your departure 
from Kehl. 

For the same reason, when the Emperor of the French 
delivers his speech at the opening of the Chambers, this 
speech, flying to London by telegraph, the conclusion may be 
read by us before it has left the lips of the Emperor, reckoning 
merely by time. The watch of another traveller, going west, 
will be too fast, unlike our preceding one ; and if he sets it 
by the time of the countries through which he passes, on 
returning to London, after having gone round the world with 
him it will only be Saturday, whilst with us it is Sunday. 
This singularity in the way of reckoning would be experienced 
every time a vessel arrived which had been round the world 
if it had counted ttie days without conforming to the time of 
the countries through which it passed. 

For the same reason, says Lalande ('Astronomie des 



222 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



Dames'), the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, which are 
twelve hours distant from our meridian, must see that travel- 
lers who come from the Indies, and those from America, 
count the days of the week differently, the first being one 
day in advance of the others; for, supposing that it is 
Sunday at noon at London, those who are in India say that 
Sunday noon has already passed six or seven hours ; and 
in America it will still be Saturday evening. This fact 
appeared very singular to our old travellers, who were 
accused at first of having made a mistake in their almanac, 
and of having lost the thread of their calculation. Dampier, 
on going westwards to Mendanao, found that there they were 
a day in advance of him. Varenius said the same at Macao, 
a maritime town in China. The Portuguese always reckon 
a day in advance of the Spaniards at the Philippines, although 
not so distant ; the former have Sunday, while the latter only 
count Saturday. The reason of this is, that the Portuguese 
who settled at Macao, went there by the Cape of Good Hope, 
travelling from the west — that is to say, starting from 
America, and crossing the South Sea. 

It will be seen from this sketch that the Earth is a 
planet, and is regulated by planetary movements ; that there 
is nothing absolute in any of these data of time and space ; 
that all is relative to the condition of each planet ; and 
that on each of the planets these figments differ according to 
their magnitude, as do the movements which give rise to them. 
But, it may be asked, on what grounds are these theoretical 
rules established, and what proves to us that, on the other 
hand, the Earth is not the absolute fixed world, established 
as the base of the heavens, and that all these movements are 
not real as they appear ? How can it be proved that this is 
delusion of our senses ; and, since it has been discovered only 
through observation, how has it been known that these are 
only simple appearances ? 

If you will listen to me for a few moments, you will 
be as convinced on this subject as I am. 



223 



II. 



PROOFS THAT THE EARTH IS ROUND— THAT IT 

TURNS ON AN AXIS, AND REVOLVES 

ROUND THE SUN. 



I have known people who were never so eager as when 
addressing a thousand astronomical questions to me, and who 
had no sooner received my answers than they ridiculed all 
with the greatest ingenuity. Without noticing their really 
primitive rudeness, it was astonishing to see them, at the same 
time,, so curious and yet so difficult to please. In their eyes 
scientific men were dreamers, who fancied they understood, 
but who, in reality, were as unable as the rest of the world to 
discover the secrets of nature. 

I have known others, a little more intelligent than the 
former, but who, considering the different phases of the 
history of the science, its successes and its reverses, thought that 
we turn in a vicious circle, that we do not possess the true 
knowledge of things, and that our systems, however solidly 
based they may appear, must never be received but as 
hypotheses. 

The cosmographical question which touches us most 
nearly, that of the isolation and movement of the Earth in space, 
especially dissipates the doubts of which I speak. For those who 
have heard these doubts stated, and who have not always unde- 
niable proofs ready to hand, I shall give here the fundamental 
points on which this element of the new system of the world 
rests. We state, first, that the Earth is round ; that it has 
the form of a sphere rather flattened at the poles. The first 



224 Marvels of the Heavens. 

fact which bears testimony to this, is the convexity of the 
immense expanse of water which covers the greater part of 
the globe. The mere sight of a ship at sea suffices to prove 
this curvature. On reaching the blue line which seems to 
form the separation of the sky and the water, the receding 
ship, appears for a moment to rest on the horizon. A little 
later, it disappears, not the upper, but the lower part. 
The sea rises at first between the hull and the observer; 
afterwards it hides the lower sails ; the tops of the masts are 
the last to disappear. A similar phenomenon is visible to an 
observer placed on the ship ; the lower coasts vanish first; the 
buildings, high towers, and light-houses being the objects 
which remain longest visible. This double fact proves, in an 
evident manner, the convexity of the sea. If it were a plane 
surface, the distance alone would hide a vessel, and in this 
case all would disappear together, the upper as soon as the 
lower sails. 

It follows, moreover, from this same kind of observation, 
that the curvature of the ocean is the same in every direction ; 
now this property belongs only to the sphere. 

The convexity of the sea extends itself to the solid land. 
In spite of the inequalities of the ground, the surface of the 
continents does not differ essentially from the seas ; for it is 
known that the highest chains of mountains are far from pro- 
ducing, on the general surface of the Earth, protuberances 
comparable to the corrugations of the skin of an orange. 
Now, the rivers which divide the solid Earth in every 
direction, to be again united in the ocean, are scarcely higher 
than its level, and may be considered as the continued sur- 
face of the sea throughout the whole extent of the continents. 
The barometric measures of the heights of mountains have 
confirmed this fact. The land of the continents deviates 
little from this level, and presents, as a whole, a curvature 
entirely like that of the seas. Moreover, on the land as on 
the sea, the highest objects are always the first and last 
which the traveller sees. 



Proofs that the Earth is Round, 225 

Voyages of circumnavigation have, on the other hand, 
given a palpable proof of the sphericity of the Earth. The 
first of the navigators who undertook the daring enterprise of 
going round the world was the Portuguese, Magellan, who left 
Spain in 1519, going always to the West. Without having 






Fig. 45. Curvature of the Sea. 



changed its direction, one of his vessels (that of Lieutenant 
Cano) reached Europe three years afterwards, as if it had come 
from the East. The numerous voyages of circumnavigation 
accomplished since that time have superabundantly con- 
firmed this truth, — the Earth is round in every direction. 



226 Marvels of the Heavens, 

Another proof of the convexity of the Earth is furnished 
by the change of aspect undergone by the heavens during 
voyages. If we steer towards the pole or approach the equa- 
tor, fresh stars are continually seen ; in the same way, those 
of the latitudes which we leave behind are lost to sight. This 
appearance can only be caused by the roundness of the Earth ; 
if the Earth were a plane, all the stars would be visible at 
the same time. 

The shadow thrown by the Earth on the Moon, during 
eclipses, is always circular, whatever side the terrestrial disk 
at the time presents to the lunar disk. This conical shadow, 
invariably observed, is a fresh proof in favour of the 
sphericity of the Earth. 

Such are the common facts which prove, in a positive 
way, the truth we have put forward. If we desired to enter 
into questions of geodesy or mechanics, I could present more 
rigorous considerations still ; but the preceding proofs are 
sufficient for us here. 

Let us now see what basis of truth they have who 
assert that the Earth is isolated and in motion through space. 
The difficulty which certain minds have in believing that 
the Earth can be suspended like a balloon in space, and 
completely isolated from every kind of support, proceeds 
from a false notion of gravity. The history of ancient astro- 
nomy shows us the profound perplexity of the first observers 
who began to conceive the reality of this isolation, but could 
not understand what hindered this heavy globe, on which we 
live, from falling. The early Chaldeans supposed the Earth 
hollow, and similar to a boat ; it could then float on the abyss 
of the ether. Some ancients fancied that it rested on pivots 
placed at the two poles. Others supposed that it stretched 
indefinitely below our feet. All these systems were conceived 
under the impression of a false idea of gravity. To rid 
ourselves of this old delusion, it is necessary to know that 
gravity is only an effect produced by the attraction of a 
centre. A body never falls but when the attraction of 



Proofs that the Earth is Round. 227 

another more important body solicits it. The expressions 
' from above ' and ' from below ' can only be applied to a deter- 
mined material system, in which the attractive centre may be 
considered as the bottom ; beyond this they signify nothing. 
When, then, we suppose our globe isolated in space, we do 
nothing which can give rise to the objection before men- 
tioned — namely, that the Earth will fall. 

The Earth may be isolated in space. But not only may 
it, but it is so in reality. If it w r ere supported By a neigh- 
bouring body at some point of its surface, this support which 
would necessarily be of very great dimensions, would cer- 
tainly be perceived when it was approached. It would be 
seen projecting from the Earth, and losing itself in space. 
There is no necessity to state that travellers who have gone 
round the world in every direction have never perceived 
anything like this ; the terrestrial surface is entirely detached 
from everything which exists around it. We now come to 
the third point of this chapter, to the positive proofs of the 
Earth's motion. 

Let us notice, first, that the appearances of exterior objects 
will be identically the same to us whether the Earth 
being in repose these objects are in motion, or these 
objects being in repose the Earth itself is in motion. If 
the Earth carries in its movement everything which belongs 
to it, seas, atmosphere, clouds, &c, we should only be con- 
scious of this movement, in which we participate, by the 
changing aspect of the immovable sky. Now, as in both 
cases, the appearances are the same, we are going to show 
that the hypothesis of the Earth's movement explains every- 
thing, whilst without it we fall into an inacceptable compli- 
cation of systems. 

If the Earth turns on its axis in twenty-four hours, we 
see directly that its mean radius being some 8000 miles, and 
its circumference 24,000, a point situated on the equator 
would travel 1000 miles an hour. This velocity, which seem* 
considerable, has been thought to be an objection agains* 



228 Marvels of the Heavens. 

the movement of the Earth. But we shall see with what 
tremendous velocity it would be necessary to animate the 
heavenly spheres to cause them each to traverse the circum- 
ference of the heavens in the same lapse of twenty-four 
hours. 

In the first place, the Sun being distant from the Earth 
23,000 times the terrestrial radius, on the hypothesis of the 
immobility of the Earth, the Sun would describe a circum- 
ference 23,000 times greater than the equator, that is, it 
would travel 23,000 times 1000 miles an hour! 

Jupiter is about five times further away; its velocity 
would be more rapid still ; Neptune, thirty times ; it would 
travel still faster. Such would be the different velocities with 
which the planets would be animated if they revolved round 
our globe in twenty -four hours, as they appear to do. It 
shows that the objection against the movement of the Earth 
on the ground of rapid motion is untenable. What would 
this motion be if we should consider the fixed stars ? Our 
neighbour, the star a of the Centaur, must travel more than a 
million times faster than 1000 miles an hour, and so on with 
all the stars, until with the more distant ones we should fail 
to find a number to express the velocity of their motion in 
revolving around this invisible point which we call the Earth. 

Let us add to this, that these bodies are, one, 1400 times 
larger than the Earth, another, 1,400,000 times, and others 
more bulky still ; that they are not united one to the other 
by any solid tie, which connects them with the movement of 
the heavenJy vault ; and that they are all situated at the most 
diverse distances ; and this fearful complication of the system 
of the heavens will itself bear witness of its non-existence, — 
we might say of its mechanical impossibility. 

But not only is it impossible for the diurnal movement 
of the celestial sphere to be understood, except by the 
admission of the movement of the Earth on its axis ; but the 
movements of the planets in the zodiac, their stations and 
retrogradations, demand it as imperatively. To explain 



Proof 8 that the Earth is Round. 229 

the planetary appearances supposing the Earth immovable, 
the ancients imagined as many as seventy circles placed 
one within the other, solid circles or crystal heavens which 
nothing could surpass in complication, .and which if they 
could exist for an instant, would have soon been dashed to 
pieces by wandering comets or aerolites, which we meet in 
space. 

Again, on the other hand, analogy singularly confirms 
the hypothesis of the movement of the Earth, and changes 
into certainty its great likelihood. The telescope shows in 
the planets, globes analogous to our own, which have a 
rotatory movement on their axes, a rotatory movement of 
twenty-four hours' duration in the case of the nearest planets, 
and of a less duration still in the case of the more distant 
ones. Thus, simplicity and analogy are in favour of the 
Earth's movement. Let us now add, that this movement is 
rigorously required and determined by all the laws of 
celestial mechanics. The great difficulty which has been 
advanced against the movement of the Earth, and which 
was in favour for some time, was this ; if the Earth turns 
under our feet, if we raise ourselves \\j> into space, and find 
the means of supporting ourselves for a few seconds or more, 
we ought to fall after this length of time on a spot more 
to the west than the starting-point. For instance, at the 
equator, he who could find means to support himself im- 
movable in the atmosphere for half a minute, must fall some 
miles to the west of the place whence he started. This 
would be an excellent way of travelling, and Cyrano de 
Bergerac claimed to have used it when having raised himself 
in the atmosphere by a balloon of his own, he fell, a few 
hours after his departure, in Canada instead of coming down 
again into France. Some sentimentalists, Buchanan among 
the rest, have given to the objection a more tender form, 
saying that if the Earth revolved, the turtle-dove would 
never dare to rise from her nest, for soon she would inevitably 
lose sight of her young ones. 



230 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



The reader has already replied to this objection by con- 
sidering that all that belongs to the Earth participates, as we 
have stated, in its rotatory movement, and that to the last 
limits of the atmosphere our globe draws all in its course. 

Direct observation of different phenomena has confirmed 
the theory of the movement of the Earth, and has confirmed 
it by undeniable material proofs. 

If the globe turns, it developes a certain centrifugal 
force, this force will be nil at the poles, will have its maximum 
at the equator, and will be greater in proportion as the 
object to which it is applied is at a greater distance from 
the axis of rotation. This is on a large scale, similar to 
that which exists on a smaller one in the case of a string, 
or wheel in rapid movement. Now, let us suppose that we 
fix a plumb-line to the top of a tower, and allow the weight 
which stretches it to descend to the ground ; the direction of 
this plumb-line towards the centre of the Earth, that is to 
say, the perpendicular to the water level, will be slightly 
modified by the effect of the centrifugal force, resulting from 
the rotation of the globe, measured at the foot of the tower. 
If we fix also at the top of the tower, a little to the 
east of the first, a second very short plumb-line, so that 
its weight is situated a little below the point of joining, 
this second line will not have quite the direction of the first, 
for the centrifugal force due to the movement of the Earth 
being greater at the top of the tower than at the foot, will 
cause the line to deviate a little to the east. This minute 
observation has been made and repeated with the greatest 
care ; it is, in its way, a proof of the rotation of the 
Earth. 

The oscillations of the seconds pendulum support the 
foregoing fact. Not only are they slower at the equator 
than at the poles, because the equatorial radius is greater 
than the polar radius, but the difference is too great to be 
attributed to this cause alone. At the equator, the centri- 
fugal force partly counterbalances the effect of the weight. A 



Proofs that the Earth is Round. 231 

curious remark to "be made here is, that at the equator this 
force is -g-i-g of the weight. Now, as the force increases 
in proportion to the square of the velocity of rotation, and 
as 28 ( J is the square of 17, if the Earth turned 17 times 
quicker, bodies at the equator would no longer weigh any- 
thing ; a stone thrown into space would not fall. 

Here is another fact no less positive than the preceding, 
and more easy to appreciate, as another proof in favour of 
the movement of the Earth. If the Earth were immovable, 
and the starry sphere revolved round it in twenty-four hours, 
the stars would never pass the meridian, would never rise 
or set, at the time predicted from their longitudes in the 
heavens. The luminous rays which they send to us, taking 
unequal intervals to reach us accordiug to their relative 
distances, would cause an extreme confusion in the hours of 
their apparent passages. A star, for instance, which, in 
reality, passes now at the meridian, but is situated at such a 
distance that its light takes six hours to reach us, will 
only appear to pass it six hours later, that is to say, at 
the time of its setting. Another will be twelve hours late ; 
another months or years, and so on. This is another 
material proof that it is not the heavenly spheres which 
move, but the Earth itself. The real annual movements of 
the stars in the heavens, of which we have spoken when 
stating the method used to determine the distances of 
the stars, furnish an equally positive proof of the move- 
ment of the Earth round the Sun. It is the same with 
the phenomenon of the aberration of light. The physics 
of the globe also furnish their contingent of proofs to the 
theory of the movement of the Earth ; and it may be said 
that all branches of the sciences, nearly or distantly, con- 
nected w r ith cosmography, are united in the unanimous con- 
firmation of this theory. The very form of the terrestrial 
spheroid shows that this planet was a fluid mass animated 
with a certain velocity of rotation, a conclusion to which 
geologists have arrived in their researches. Other facts, 



232 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



as the currents of the atmosphere and the ocean, the polar 
currents and the trade-winds, equally find their cause in the 
rotation of the globe ; but these facts have less value than 
the preceding ones, seeing that they might agree with the 
hypothesis of the movement of the Sun. 

We shall conclude by recalling M. Foucault's brilliant 
experiment at the Pantheon, in Paris. Unless we deny the 
evidence, this experiment proves indubitably the movement of 
the Earth. It consists in fixing a steel wire by its upper end 
into a metallic plate, solidly fitted into a ceiling. The wire is 
then stretched at its lower end by a rather heavy copper ball. 
A pointer is attached below the ball, and fine sand spread on 
the ground to receive the trace of this point. We have a 
lorn? pendulum ; and when the pendulum is in motion, it 
happens that the point does not always trace the same line in 
the sand. Successive traces which cross at the centre follow 
each other, and show a deviation in the plane of the oscilla- 
tions from east to west. In reality, the plane of the 
oscillations remains fixed ; the Earth turns underneath from 
west to east. This last experiment has placed the seal on the 
positive proofs of the movement of the Earth. 

Thus, like all the heavenly bodies, the Earth revolves. 
Absolute repose does not exist in the universe; all is in 
motion ; and it is on this universal law of movement that 
the stability of the world resists. 

But a question presents itself here : the Earth turns ; 
We grant it ! But is it possible for it to stop ? Or what would 
happen if, by any chance, it ceased, suddenly or by degrees, 
to revolve in its rapid motion ? Let us see ; the subject 
is worth the inquiry, as it is very curious. In trying to reply 
to this strange question, I wish to give it more importance 
than it really possesses. That our globe will one day cease 
to revolve is what we may fearlessly declare impossible ; and 
that with all the authority which belongs to the principles of 
celestial mechanics. On the part of our world, we have no- 
thing to expect or to fear from this chimera. I say, to fear ! 



Proofs that the Earth is Round. 233 

For here are the inevitable consequences which would follow 
from the simple arresting of the Earth in its course. 

Let us first call to mind that the motion of a body- 
situated on the surface of the Earth is composed of two por- 
tions — the movement of diurnal rotation of the globe on 
its axis, and its movement of translation round the Sun. In 
virtue of the first, the bodies placed on the terrestrial equator 
travel 1000 miles an hour. This velocity diminishes from 
the equator, where it is a maximum, to the poles, where it 
is nil, as bodies have naturally so much longer a path 
to travel as their latitude is less. In consequence of the 
second movement of the Earth — its revolution in space 
round the Sun — each particle of its mass travels 68,000 miles 
an hour. 

An idea may be formed of this velocity if we reflect that 
an express train at full speed does not go more than sixty miles 
an hour, and that a 24-pounder ball has only, on its leaving 
the cannon, a velocity of some 300 yards a second. 

As every part belonging to a material system in move- 
ment is animated with the same motion, if by an abrupt 
stoppage this system is suddenly brought to repose, the 
portions which can be displaced at its surface will continue, 
in virtue of the acquired velocity, to move in their original 
direction. It is on account of this principle that when 
your horse suddenly falls under the pole of your rapid 
chariot, you find yourself unfortunately thrown over the head 
of your Pegasus. It is also in virtue of the same principle 
that you must take certain precautions in descending from 
an omnibus in motion, since your feet being suddenly 
placed on the immovable ground, whilst your body is still 
animated with the acquired velocity, you are inclined to 
tumble forwards. 

The Earth is, as we have seen, a more rapid conveyance 
than omn ; buses, carriages, or trains. If it were to stop sud- 
denly, all precautions would, without doubt, be unavailing to 
avoid instantaneous death. All objects which are not im- 



234 Marvels of the Heaven*. 

planted and fixed in the ground, all which only adhere to 
the surface by the law of gravity, would be immediately, and 
all together, projected into space with a tremendous velocity — • 
with the velocity, in fact, of the Earth in its orbit. Peaceful 
pedestrians, labourers, and quiet people, domestic and wild 
animals, the birds of the air, our carriages and machinery, — 
all would be sent forth at a single bound in the direction 
of the movement of the Earth. As to the ocean, which covers 
two-thirds of the globe, its liquid mass, rushing over the 
shores, would submerge in the twinkling of an eye the islands 
and continents in its impetuous course, crowning the edifice of 
death. Soon it would reach above the highest mountains, 
and would cause our globe to undergo a transformation of 
surface, such as the ancient revolutions which have disturbed 
it have never equalled. Theorists who occupy themselves in 
finding a natural cause for the Biblical deluge, have not 
omitted to bring forward this powerful one, and to suggest. 
that the shock of a comet would easily effect this arrest and 
its sad consequences. We now know that a comet could 
pass over the Earth without our perceiving it. 

Another very curious fact whicli would follow the annihi- 
lation of the velocity of the Earth is this : the centripetal force 
which attracts the planets towards the Sun being no longer 
counterbalanced by the centrifugal force, the Earth would fall 
in a straight line into the Sun. If there were any other beings 
on the globe besides the fishes to see it, the Sun would be seen 
to increase visibly, and to swell out gigantically. The Earth 
would reach it sixty-four days after the shock, and would disap- 
pear in its surface as an aerolite does on the surface of the Earth. 

Of course our globe is not an exception to the general 
rule ; the same end would happen to the other planets if they 
found themselves in the same case. Thus, if the motion of 
Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, or Saturn, were stopped, these 
planets would fall into the Sun — the first in fifteen, the 
second in forty, the third in seven hundred and sixty-seven, 
the last in nineteen hundred days. 



Proofs that the Earth is Round. 235 

But here is another consequence, still more curious, which 
would immediately follow from the sudden stopping of the 
Earth in its course. 

It is acknowledged that motion can no more be annihi- 
lated than any atom of matter ; it may be communicated, 
divided, or hidden in a certain quantity of other forces, but not 
annihilated. It may — and this is the important point here — 
it may be transformed into heat ; and it is actually so trans- 
formed every time it appears to be lost as motive power. Thus 
you strike a nail, firmly driven in and immovable, several 
times : the movement of the hammer not being communi- 
cated to the nail, is transformed into heat — you can easily 
perceive it by the touch. It is needless to multiply examples : 
every one has proved by experiment this mechanical trans- 
formation of heat. 

Now, if by any cause the motion which animates our 
globe should be instantaneously suspended, this motion 
would undergo this transformation of which we have spoken. 
The Earth would be all at once heated ; and do we wish to 
know to what degree ? The quantity of heat engendered by 
the arrest of the terrestrial globe due to a colossal shock, 
would not only suffice to melt the whole Earth, but also to 
convert the greater part of it to a state of vapour. 

This consequence crowns and absorbs all the preceding 
ones. The Earth would no longer be a planet, its volume and 
density would be changed entirely, and what we have just 
pointed out as to the inordinate movement of the bodies on its 
surface, the overflowing of the seas, and its fall into the Sun, 
would no longer be applicable; all these consequences sug- 
gested by mechanics would be modified according to the force 
which impeded the movement of the Earth. If this stoppage 
were only a progressive slackening, the accomplishment of 
which would require a length of time instead of being in- 
stantaneous, the Earth would still become hot enough to 
cause all living beings on its surface to perish suddenly. 



236 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



Let us conclude these reflections as we began them, by 
stating that the question is more curious than important; 
and that it is very certain we may rest in peace without allow- 
ing the slightest trace of imaginary fears, which might at first 
sight spring up in our minds, to trouble us. 



237 



III. 

THE MOON. 

' Le soir ramene le silence, 
Assis sur ces rochers deserts, 
Je suis dans le vague des airs 
Le char de la nuit qui s'avance. 
Tout-a-coup, de'tache les cieux, 
Un rayon de l'astre nocturne 
Glissant sur mon front taciturne, 
Vient mollement toucher mes yeux. 
Doux reflet d'un globe de flamme, 
Gharmant rayon, que me veux-tu? 
Viens-tu dans mon sein abattu 
Porter la lumiere a mon ame ? 

Descends-tu pour me reveler 
Des mondes le divin mystere? 
Les secrets caches dans la sphere 
Oii le jour va te rappeler 9 
Une secrete intelligence, 
T'adresse-t-elle aux malbeureux? 
Viens-tu la nuit briller sur eux 
Comme un rayon de l'esperance ? 

Viens-tu devoiler l'avenir 
Au cceur fatigue qui t'implore ? 
Eayon divin, es-tu l'aurore 
Du jour qui ne doit pas finir ? ' 

Lamartine. 

The orb of reverie and mystery, the torch destined for the 
lighting -up of our terrestrial nights, has always been privi- 
leged to attract our sight and occupy our thoughts. Reign- 
ing over the empire of silence and peace, it seems more 
mysterious and solitary than any other ; its white and frosted 
light also adds to the first impressions ; and it remains in 



238 Marvels of the Heavens, 

the mind as representing night itself. In olden times, the 
ancients named the sovereign of the silent nights Diana with 
the silver crescent, or Phoebus with the fair hair. 

Attached by indissoluble ties by means of attraction to 
the Earth from which it is descended, the Moon gravitates 
round us like a faithful satellite. At the time of its greatest 
brightness, when it is at its phase of full Moon on rising, it 
introduces the time of the appearance of the stars, and per- 
ceptibly following their course from east to west, it appears 
their heavenly guide. 

Nevertheless, as it makes the circuit of our globe from 
west to east in about twenty-seven days, it is soon remarked 
that each day it falls behind the stars which it seems to 
conduct, and that it possesses a movement independent to 
that of the celestial sphere. Indeed, it is the nearest heavenly 
body to us, and it belongs to us as a satellite. 

Of all bodies, this is the one we understood the first and 
best. Since the invention of the first telescopes — scarcely 
2ov) years ago — these primitive instruments whose power was 
far from attaining the stellar regions, and could only be 
effectually applied to this nearest body ; astronomers, astrolo- 
gers, alchemists, and all those who were occupied with science, 
felt themselves urged by a desire to penetrate into the 
mysteries of this celestial land. The first observations of 
Galileo did not make less noise than the discovery of America ; 
many saw in them another discovery of a new world much 
more interesting than America, as it was beyond the Earth. 
It is one of the most curious episodes in history, that of 
the prodigious excitement which was caused by the unveiling 
of the world of the Moon. ' Ce nest que le premier pas qui 
coute,' says the old proverb ; at the time of which I speak, 
only the first step in optics had been taken, scarcely was 
it made, but a second was claimed with avidity, then the 
third, and as science did not advance as quickly as was 
desired, as many years passed without the kingdoms of 
the Moon and the cities of its inhabitants being dis- 



The Moon. 239 

covered, exalted imagination without waiting longer took 
flight to the new celestial world. Very curious voyages 
t) the Moon then appeared, astonishing excursions, unpar- 
donable fancies, and serious studies were soon eclipsed by 
the visions of impatient minds. Notwithstanding all this, 
astronomical discovery rapidly advanced. Encouraged by 
the first revelations of the telescope, astronomers undertook 
the complete study of the lunar surface. The aspect of the 
Moon to the naked eye, that rude face that was seen with 
little goodwill on its pale disk, was transformed in the field 
of the telescope, and at first very bright portions and very 
dark portions were alone distinguished. Examining it more 
attentively, and increasing the magnifying power of the 
instrument, it was discovered that the aspect of the details 
changed according as the Sun was on one side or the other 
of the Moon ; that on the days when the Sun was at the left 
of the bright portion dark lines were seen to the right, whilst 
in the opposite case, the dark shadow appeared to the left. 
It was then easy to prove that the bright portions were 
mountains, that the dark portions which were close to them 
were valleys, or low countries; and lastly, that the large 
plains were lands which reflected the solar light less perfectly. 
It was already known that the phases of the Moon were 
produced by the illumination of the Sun, because when we see 
entirely the lighted-up portion of the Moon, at the time of full 
Moon, it is when we are between the Sun and the Moon, and 
that the side that the Sun entirely lights up is turned towards 
us ; that at the time of the new Moon, the Sun is behind the 
Moon, and lights up the side that we do not see, and that at 
the two quarters, we make a right angle with the Moon and 
Sun, and can see only one half of the portion which the Sun 
lights up. Observations made with the telescope confirm 
this explanation by showing that the path of the shadows on 
the surface is opposed to the direction of the Sun. Later, 
indeed only a few years ago, this was again confirmed by 
spectrum analysis, of which I have before spoken, for, on 



240 



Marvels of the HeaVi ns. 






analysing the rays sent us by the Moon, astronomers found 
indication of identically the same elements as in the light 
emitted directly by the Sun. 

We have then before our eyes a globe, opaque like the 
Earth, lighted like it by the Sun, and its surface marked 
with mountains and valleys. This was more than was 
necessary to incite curiosity. Astronomers then employed 
themselves specially with our neighbour, and planned a geo- 
graphical, or more properly, selenographical, map of it, sine, 
as the reader may know, T/] means the Earth, whilst *2,ixrw 
means the Moon. 

As astrological ideas on the physical and metaphysical, 
moral or immoral influences of the Moon were still in full 
vigour, and man could not, but with the greatest difficulty, 
free himself from error, even when he wished, which is 
unfortunately but seldom the case — 

' L'horame est de glace aux verites, 
II est de feu pour le mensonge,' 

astrologers continued to interpret the language of the Moon 
according to the rules of the horoscope, and astronomers 
gave a description which agreed with the reigning opinions. 
To the large spots they gave the name of seas, to the small 
ones: lakes or marshes ; then they christened the seas, lakes, 
marshes, mountains, valleys, gulfs, peninsulas, &c, with 
names connected with the remembrance of virtues more or 
less legitimately attributed to the orb of night. Thus there 
were, and are still at the present time on the Moon, the Sea 
of Plenty, Lake of Dreams, Sea of Serenity, Marsh of Fogs, 
Ocean of Tempests, Lake of Death, Sea of Humours, Marshes 
of Putrefaction, Peninsula of Reveries, Sea of Tranquillity, 
&c, &c, and other names which are not all, as you see by 
the preceding, in exquisite taste or of graceful senti- 
ment. When it was necessary to name the mountains, the 
first idea was to name them after the astronomers whose 
works had been most useful in the advancement of our 



The Moon. 241 

knowledge of the Moon, and had most brilliantly illustrated this 
ornament of space. But a consideration of prudence deterred 
Hevelius, the author of the SelenograpJiia, and one which 
it will not take long to guess — he feared to excite sentiments 
of jealousy. An astronomer who did not possess a plot of 
land here was honoured to receive a small heritage in the 
lunar world ; but another, a rich proprietor, was (as it 
always happens with people of this kind) very angry not to 
increase his wealth by some part of the Moon. Then the 
names of the mountains of the Earth were given. There 
were the Alps, Apennines, Carpathians, &c. ; but the vo- 
cabulary of our mountains was not sufficient, so they 
returned to the learned men, but to those who were dead. 
Aristotle, Plato, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Copernicus, each had 
their property in the Moon. Certain travellers, like the 
author of the Voyage au monde de Descartes, have found, 
on visiting these different lunar countries, that the great men 
w T hose names they had arbitrarily received, took possession 
of them in the course of the sixteenth century, and there 
fixed their residence. These immortal souls, it seems, con- 
tinued their w r orks and systems inaugurated on Earth. Thus 
it is, that on Mount Aristotle a real Greek city has risen, 
peopled with Peripatetic philosophers, and guarded by senti- 
nels armed with propositions, antitheses, and sophisms, the 
master himself living in the centre of the town in a magnifi- 
cent palace. Thus also in Plato's circle live souls continually 
occupied in the study of the prototype of ideas. Two years 
ago a fresh division of lunar property was made, some 
astronomers being generously enriched. 

Without taking up our time at present with the inhabi- 
tants of the Moon, the souls of those whose illustrious names 
have served to point out the kingdoms of the Earth, we can 
continue our narrative by saying, that the satisfactory know- 
ledge w T hich people rapidly acquired of our satellite was due to 
its great proximity to the Earth, and to the facility with 
which we see all that passes on its surface. It is indeed so 

B 



242 



Marvels of the Heavens. 






near to us, that after the celestial distances to which we must 
have familiarised ourselves in the preceding chapters, the 
distance which separates it from us is but trifling. Even 
to those whose minds have not visited the ultra-terrestrial 
regions, the path from here to the Moon is not very long. 
Navigators of long service who have made four or five 
voyages round the globe have travelled an equal distance, 
for in going round the world, the irregularities of the route 
double the geometric circumference. A body allowed to 
fall from the lunar orbit would arrive here in 3 days, 
1 hour, 45 minutes, and 13 seconds. To go from here to 
the Moon, it would take rather more time ; but if we availed 
ourselves of steam, one could arrive there in less than a year. 
At its minimum distance, it is only twenty-eight times and a 
half the diameter of the Earth, or about 225,719 miles. 
' This is really an insignificant distance. 

It is doubtless this proximity which has caused the great 
reputation of the lunar orb amongst us. No celestial body, 
except the Sun, has ever had a similar influence. The whole 
world was accessible to the lunar influences, men, animals, 
plants, minerals. I have before stated that the astrological 
opinions with regard to this body were most singular. I 
must quote some to you ; they are really too curious to be 
passed over in silence. Let us choose one or two good 
astrologers, learned on the Moon, and let us question them. 
First regarding the general action of the satellite on the 
Earth. 

Cornelius Agrippa, a famous geomancer, thus expresses 
himself: 'The Moon is called Phoebe, Diana, Lucinus. 
Proserpine, Hecate, who govern the months, half-formed ; 
who illuminates the nights, wandering, in silence, with 
two horns ; queen of divinities, queen of heaven, queen 
of manes, who rules over all the elements, to whom respond 
the stars, to whom return the seasons, and whom the elements 
obey ; at whose direction the thunders sound, the seeds 
germinate, the germs increase ; the primordial mother of 



The Moon. 243 

fruits, heart of Phoebus, shining and brilliant, carrying light 
from one planet to another, illuminating by her light all 
the divinities, stopping various intercourses with the stars, 
distributing the light rendered uncertain on account of 
meetings with the Sun ; queen of beauty, mistress of shores 
and winds, giver of riches, nurse of men, governor of 
all States good and unhappy ; protecting men by sea and 
land, moderating the reverses of fortune ; dispensing with 
destiny, nourishing all which comes out of the Earth, 
arresting the insults of phantoms, holding the cloisters of the 
Earth closed, the heights of Heaven luminous, the currents 
of the sea salutary, and ruling at will the deplorable silence 
of the lower regions, governing the world, treading Tartarus 
under foot ; of whom the majesty causes the birds which 
fly in the sky, savage beasts in the mountains, the ser- 
pents hidden under the Earth, and the fish in the sea, to 
tremble.' 

According to La Martiniere : ' This lunar planet is damp 
of itself : but, by the radiation of the Sun, is of various tempera- 
ments, as follows : in its first quadrant it is warm and damp, 
at which time it is good to let the blood of sanguine persons ; 
in its second it is warm and dry, at which time it is good 
to bleed the choleric ; in its third quadrant it is cold and 
moist, and phlegmatic people may be bled ; and in its fourth 
it is cold and dry, at which time it is well to bleed the 
melancholic. It is a thing quite necessary to those who 
meddle with medicine to understand the movement of this 
planet, in order to discern the causes of sickness. And as 
the Moon is often in conjunction with Saturn, many attribute 
to it apoplexy, paralysis, epilepsy, jaundice, hydropsy, le- 
thargy, catapory, catalepsy, colds, convulsions, trembling of 
the limbs, &c, &c. I have noticed that this planet has such 
enormous power over living creatures, that children born at 
the first quarter of the declining Moon are more subject to 
illness, so that children born when there is no Moon, if they 



244 Marvels of the Heavens. 

live, are weak, delicate, and sickly, or are of little mind or 
idiots. Those who are born under the house of the Moon, 
which is Cancer, are of a phlegmatic disposition.' 

According to Eteilla, the Moon ' governs comedians, 
butchers, tallow and wax chandlers, ropemakers, lemonade- 
vendors, publicans, play-wrights of all kinds, masters of great 
works, menageries of animals ; and, on the other hand, pro- 
fessional gamblers, spies, sharpers, cheats, bankrupts, false 
money-coiners, and mad-houses; that is to say, the Moon 
rules over all those whose business it is to work during the 
night until sun -rising, or to sell provisions for the night ; 
and it also rules over all which people would be ashamed 
to commit in full day, in sight of those who have manners. 
Thus each reader, on reading, may easily find out of 
what denomination he is, &c. It is well to mention, that 
the Moon also governs all small merchants, who merely 
distribute imports, all usurers, courtiers, horse-dealers, place- 
hunters, men without employment, feeding on clients, and 
placing by their craft honest people in peril of losing . . . ' It 
is not without a cause, one would say, with regard to these 
accusations that the Moon is so near us ; if it were as far off 
as Saturn, it would not be able to answer to all of them.' 

But intelligent and animated beings alone were not sub- 
jected to these pernicious influences, all terrestrial nature, in- 
cluding vegetables and minerals, was under its rule. 

Cucumbers increase at full Moon, as well as radishes, 
turnips, leeks, lilies, horse-radish, saffron, &c. ; but onions, on 
the contrary, are much larger and better nourished during the 
decline and old age of the Moon than at its increase ; and 
during its youth, and fulness, which is the reason the Egyptians 
abstained from onions, on account of their antipathy to the 
Moon. Herbs gathered while the Moon increases are of 
great efficacy. * If vines are trimmed at night when the 
Moon is in the sign of the Lion, Sagittarius, the Scorpion, or 
the Bull, it will save them from field-rats, mol^s, snails, flies, 






TU Moon. 245 

and other animals. Pliny asserts that aulx sown or trans 
planted, the Moon being below the horizon, and gathered the 
day that it is new, will have no bad odour, and will not cause 
the breath of those who partake of them to be either offensive 
or ( 



246 Marvels of the Heavens. 



IV. 

THE MOON— (continued). 

* Hail to thy cold and clouded beam, 
Pale pilgrim of the troubled sky ! 
Hail, though the mists tbat o'er the stream 
Lend to thy brow their sullen dye ! 
How should thy pure and peaceful eye 
Untroubled view our scenes below ? 
Or how a tearless beam supply ! 
To light a world of war and woe ? ' 

Sir Walter Scott, Rokt by. 

There is, indeed, a great contrast, not only apparent but 
real, between the serene tranquillity of the lunar disk and the 
great movements which are ceaselessly carried on on the 
surface of our world. On approaching the Moon, nothing is 
seen of the physical causes which make the Earth a vast 
laboratory wherein a thousand elements contend or unite with 
each other. There are none of those tumultuous tempests 
which sometimes sweep over our inundated plains ; none of 
those hurricanes which descend in waterspouts to be swal- 
lowed up in the depth of the sea ; no wind blows, no cload 
rises to the heavens. There white trains of cloudy vapours 
are not seen, nor those leaden masses with heavy cohorts : 
the rain never falls ; and neither snow, nor hail, nor any of 
the meteorological phenomena, are manifested there. 

But, on the other hand, the magnificent tints which 
colour our sky at sunrise and twilight, the radiation of the 
heated atmosphere, are never seen there ; if winds and tempests 
never blow, neither is there the balmy breeze which descend u 



The Moon. 247 

upon our coasts. In this kingdom of sovereign immobility, 
the lightest zephyr never comes to caress the hill-tops ; the 
sky remains eternally asleep in a calm incomparably more 
complete than that of our hottest days when not a leaf moves 
in the air. This is because on the surface of this strange 
world there is no atmosphere. From this privation results 
a state of things difficult to realise. In the first place, the 
absence of air implies also the absence of water and every 
liquid, for water and liquids can only exist under atmospheric 
pressure : if this pressure is taken away they evaporate and 
their beds are dried up. Thus, for instance, if you place a 
vessel filled with water under the receiver of an air-pump, 
and then, by pumping out the air which is in the receiver, you 
make a vacuum, you will soon see the water boil, even when 
the place where the experiment takes place is frozen with 
the most intense cold. The boiling disengages vapours, and, 
finally, the water is evaporated. Now let us suppose, that, 
at a certain period of its past existence the Moon had, 
like the Earth, seas and rivers, and that by the aid of any 
apparatus, its seas and rivers were made to boil and to 
fall into vapour again ; by continuing this operation long 
enough the Moon would be made completely dry : this is 
precisely what has happened. Since the distant period of its 
formation in a fluid state, it has lost all its liquids and 
vapours, and now a linnet would die of thirst in the midst of 
the seas of the Moon. These seas do not contain a drop of 
water. These, it will be said, are singular seas. And, 
indeed, no one will hold that their title is logical. But, we 
have seen that they were named at a time when people 
did not know the lunar surface sufficiently well to guess 
that it existed without air and water. From the absence 
of air follows another very curious fact — the absence of 
sky. On the surface of the Moon when the looks are 
directed towards the sky, there is none to be seen. An 
immensity without depth is traversed by the sight without 
resting on any kind of form, and in the day as in the night 



248 Marvels of the Heavens. 

are seen the stars, planets, comets, and all the bodies of out 
universe. The Sun passes among them without extinguishing 
them, as it does to us. Not only does the Moon not pos- 
sess this perpetual diversity which the movements of the air 
produce on our world, but it has not the azure vault which 
covers the Earth with such a magnificent dome ; space is 
a black and a perpetually black abyss. 

Whilst on high there reigns darkness, below there is 
silence. Not the least sound is ever heard ; the sigh of the 
wind in the woods, the rustling of foliage, the song of the 
morning lark, or the sweet warbling of the nightingale never 
awakens the eternally dumb echoes of this world. No voice, 
no speech has ever disturbed the intense solitude with 
which it is overspread. Unchangeable silence reigns there in 
sovereignty. Tall perpendicular mountains divide its surface. 
Here and there are seen worn-out craters rising towards the 
sky, white rocks heaped up like the ruins of some long-passed 
revolution, crevasses crossing the surface as in lands dried by 
the burning rays of long summer days. That which renders 
the spectacle more strange is that the absence of vapours 
causes the absence of perspective as well as the absence of all 
tints, and we see only white or black according as the object 
is in the Sun's light or in shadow, the objects succeeding 
each other as far as the horizon without losing brightness or 
contour. In the vicinity of the Southern pole, that is to say, at 
the lower part of the Moon as seen with the naked eye, are the 
highest mountains of the satellite : Doerfel, whose top attains 
a height of 26,691 feet above the level of the neighbouring 
plain ; Oasatus and Curtius, 7600 and 7318 yards ; Newton, 
23,853 feet in depth ; this word depth may justly be questioned 
when it refers to the elevation of a mountain ; but the Moon is 
such a singular world that its mountains may be measured 
as well by depth as height. This paradox, rather diffi- 
cult to understand, arises from the fact that the mountains 
of the Moon are not like those of the Earth, but are 
hollow. When we arrive at the top there is a ring, the 



The Moon. 249 

interior of which often descends below the surrounding plain : 
so that if one did not wish to make the round of the slopes 
which sometimes measure 310 miles (Ptolemy), and even 
403 miles in circumference (like the circle of Clavius), it 
would be necessary to descend three or four miles to cross 
the bottom of the crater, and afterwards to ascend on the 
opposite side of the ring, to return at last into the plain. 

The views of Copernicus and a lunar landscape give 
an idea of this singular kind of mountain. Among the 
annular mountains may be mentioned that of Aristillus, 
situated in the Sea of Rains, not far from the Caucasus, 
between the Marshes of Fogs and Putrefaction. It is a 
curious fact that the surface of the lunar hemisphere was 
known before that of our own Earth, and the heights of 
all its mountains were measured before the same thing was 
done for our own. The volcano of Aristillus in particular 
was one of the first and best known. Lecouturier, the author 
of a very good map of the Moon, gave a long description of 
it, and this description may be applied to most of the lunar 
mountains. It is composed of a crater about twenty-four 
miles across, from the centre of which rise two cones, the 
highest of which attains nearly 984 yards; the whole is 
surrounded by a circular rampart, the highest part being 
3608 yards high. When the bottom of the crater is examined 
with a powerful telescope and under favourable circumstances, 
numerous rough portions are noticed which seem to indicate 
hardened lava and blocks of rock heaped together. From 
this mountain, taken as a centre, start five or six lines and 
rocky ramifications directed towards the east and south. 
These ramifications give rise to the radiation of Aristillus. 
They are surmounted by an enormous quantity of peaks or 
basaltic columns which rise from their summits, and make 
them resemble from afar the multitude of bell towers that 
are seen on some Gothic cathedrals. Aristillus presents 
the general aspect of most of the mountains of oui 
satellite. 



250 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



Thus the Moon would appear very inhospitable to us. The 
sense of speech, like the sense of hearing, would be lost, and, 
consequently, would not exist. To the privation of these 




Fig. 46. Copernicus. 

two senses, perhaps, must be added an inferiority in the 
pleasures which sight gives to us, seeing that wher- 
ever the eye would be directed, it would only meet with 



The Moon. 253 

white, rugged and sterile mountains, and lofty and deserted 
craters. These solitary and dried-up landscapes show how 
true were the lines of Alfred de Musset : — 

1 Va, Lune moribonde, 
Le beau corps de Phoebe 

La blonde 
Dans la mer est tombe. 
Tu n'en es que la face, 
Et, deja tout ride, 

S'efface 
Ton front depossede.' 

This reminds me of what Fontenelle said regarding the 
changes at work on the surface of our satellite, caused, 
not by the movements of life, like those which regulate terres- 
trial nature, but by the simple falling down of lands. ' Every- 
thing is in perpetual motion,' he says ; * even including a 
certain young lady, who was seen in the Moon with a tele- 
scope about forty years ago, everything has considerably 
aged. She had a pretty good face, but her cheeks are now 
sunken, her nose is lengthened, hei forehead and chin are now 
prominent to such an extent, that all her charms have 
vanished, and I fear for her days.' 

1 What are you relating to me now ? ' interrupted the 
Marchioness. 

' This is no jest,' returned the author. l Astronomers 
perceived in the Moon a particular figure which had the 
aspect of a woman's head, which came forth from between 
the rocks, and then occurred some changes in this region. 
Some pieces of mountain fell, and disclosed three points 
which could only serve to compose a forehead, a nose, and an 
old woman's chin.' I do not know .whether the face, of which 
the ingenious writer speaks, existed anywhere but in his 
imagination ; but changes, even caused by simple fallings, 
are extremely rare, if even they are still produced. For a 
hundred years, for instance, during which period a day has 



254 Marvels of the Heavens. 

not elapsed in which the Moon has been visible, without it 
being observed by the telescope, the slightest movement has 
never been noticed. At the commencement of the century, it 
is true, people fancied they observed active volcanoes, but 
they have since discovered that very probably what were then 
taken for volcanoes were nothing more than the white crests 
of certain mountains, their form or their structure being more 
favourably adapted to reflect light. Thus the orb of night 
remains dumb and silent, revolving in the heavens like a 
deserted planet. Why this sad and solitary fate? Why 
deprived of movement and life ? This is the question asked 
by the poet Shelley : — 

Art thou pale for weariness, 
Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth, 

Wandering companionless 
Among the stars that have a different birth, 
And ever changing, like a joyless eye 
That finds no object worth its constancy ?' 

Now that I have pointed out how the Moon is an in- 
hospitable world, poor and destitute of nature's gifts, it is 
necessary to retrace my steps, and show it to you as a mag- 
nificent world, worthy our admiration and esteem. I do 
not wish to contradict my foregoing words ; but in order 
not to leave a bad impression with regard to our faithful 
friend, I wish to remind you that nature, even when it 
appears to disgrace some of its works from some points of 
view, favours them with very desirable riches when regarded 
under other aspects. 

To an astronomer, the Moon would be a magnificent 
observatory. In the daytime, he could observe the stars at 
noon, and thus discover, without trouble, that they reside 
eternally in the heavens. With us, on the contrary, among 
the ancients, were a great number who imagined that 
they were lighted up in the evening and extinguished in the 
morning. If, then, people make astronomical observations on 



The Moon. 



255 



the Moon, the Sun is not a tyrant who governs the heavens 
absolutely, it allows the stars to be enthroned peaceably with 
it in space ; and studies commenced during the night can be 
carried on without difficulty during the day until the follow- 
ing night. On our satellite the nights are fifteen times 24 
hours long, and the days are of the same length ; but there is an 
essential difference to remark between the nights of the lunar 
hemisphere, which faces us, and those of the hemisphere which 
we do not see. 

You must have noticed that the Moon always presents 
the same side to us. From the beginning of the world it has 
never shown but this side. We read in Plutarch, who 
wrote nearly two thousand years ago, a thousand conjectures 
relative to the side of the Moon for ever turned towards us. 
Some said it was a large mirror, well polished and excellent, 
which sent back from afar the image of the Earth : the dark 
portions represented the oceans and seas, while the bright 
portions represented the con- 
tinents. Others believed that 
the spots were forests, where 
some placed the hunts of Diana, 
and that the most brilliant parts 
were the plains. Others, again, 
saw in it a very light, celestial 
Earth ; they stated that its in- 
habitants must pity the Earth 
which is below them, and which 
is only a mass of mud. Others, 
again, and their singular opinion 
was widely spread, added that 
the beings who peopled it were 
fifteen times larger than those of our Earth, and by the 
side of the lunar trees our oaks would only be small bushes. All 
this to explain the nature of the lunar face eternally turned 
towards us. 

Now, if we never see but one side of the Moon, it follows 



| /,: ^ 


M 


fSBSBI - 


ili^llplll 


.-:■:■; 


■■ fflM'^WB 


rani 


; i 


WBm- : 


iF#1M 


WKm 




WBim 













Fig. 48. Aspect of the Full Moon. 



256 Marvels of the Heavens. 

that there is only one side of this body which sees us ; so that 
half of the Moon has a moon — namely, our Earth, and the other 
half is deprived of one. If there are any inhabitants on the 
hemisphere turned from us, they do not guess that the Moon is 
only a body placed for the illumination of our nights, and they 
must be greatly astonished when the narratives of travellers 
relate to them the existence of our Earth in the heavens. If 
the travellers there resemble those here, what tales must they 
spread with regard to us ? But, also, how useful must the 
Earth be to the lunar nights, and how beautiful we are — 
trom afai ! Fancy to yourself fourteen moons like that 
which gives us light, or more properly speaking, a moon with 
fourteen times the extent of surface, and you will have an 
idea ot tiio Eaith as seen from the Moon. Sometimes it only 
presents a fringed crescent, a few days after the new Earth ; 
sometimes it presents the first quarter ; sometimes it shines 
out with its full disk, spreading its silvered light in floods. 
The most foitunate thing is, that it begins to shine precisely 
in the evening, that its brightest light, its full disk, is pre- 
cisely at midnight, and that it fades away in the morning at 
the time when it is no longer required. And it is known that 
from the evening to the morning is fifteen times twenty -four 
hours with our neighbours the Selenites. How much more 
reasonable are these inhabitants than we are in believing that 
the Moon was created and placed in the world expressly for 
them, and that we are only their very humble servants ! 

In some aspects then the Moon appears much more 
favoured than the Earth. But not in planetary import- 
ance, for it measures scarcely the quarter the diameter of the 
Earth, 2,153 miles ; its total surface is 14,568,000 square 
miles, including both hemispheres, that is to say, nearly the 
thirteenth part of the terrestrial surface ; its volume is one 
forty-ninth of the volume of the terrestrial globe. This would 
probably not prevent its inhabitants (if there are any) from 
fancying themselves superior to us, and believing us to be their 
servants rather than their masters ; for it is generally known, 



The Moon. 257 

that the smaller people are, the more vanity they possess. 
The inhabitants of the invisible hemisphere have the most 
beautiful nights imaginable, and those who live on the 
visible hemisphere one of the most beautiful moons. Only 
the inhabitants of the first moons of Jupiter and Saturn 
would be able to claim the superiority of their respective 
planets. Never any clouds, never any tempests, come to 
disturb these lonely and silent nights ; profound calm, un- 
alterable peace, occupy these regions. Moreover, whilst we 
only know a portion of their world, ours, turning on its axis 
in twenty-four hours, is entirely unveiled to them, so that 
with good eyes or with optical instruments they are able to 
contemplate our Earth revolving over their heads, present- 
ing to them in turn the different countries of our abode. 
There, the new world stained with cruel battles ;* further on, 
gloomy isles, where they sacrifice human heads to the serpent 
Vaudoux ; here, Russia crushing Poland, who resists strongly ; 
and to the left, a small verdant spot, where thirty-eight 
millions of French regard in various ways a throne which 
rises up in the midst of a great city. And ourselves, we 
contemplate the pensive Moon in the stillness of night, hoping 
that its people and those of other worlds are more united 
than our family. Yes, beloved light of the solitary nights, 
we think that nature has given thee some compensation for 
the things of which thou art deprived, and that the unknown 
riches of thy abode would strangely surprise those who for 
thee would escape from our wo:M. We have seen that thou 
hast no air, and that thou hast not a drop of water to quench 
thy thirst ; but that does not prevent us from returning to 
our old sympathy for thy beauty. If thou hast not the 
elements which suit us, if water and land, air and fire, do 
not reside in thy midst, thy nature is different, and thou art 
not less complete in thy creation. 



* This line was written in 1865. The American war is now ended, 
after having destroyed nearly a million soldiers. 



258 Marvels of the Heavens. 

Remain in the heavens of our reveries, renew those phases 
which form our months, pour out thy dew of light into the 
limpid air ; the traveller will always love to choose thee as 
his guide in the midnight hours, in the paths of the sea, or 
in desert countries. 

* Taimera le pilote 
Dans son grand batiment 

Qui flotte 
Sur le clair firmament. 

T'aimera le vieux patre 
Seul, tandis qu'a ton front 

D'albatre 
Ses dogues aboieront. 

Et toujours rajeunie, 
Tu seras des passants 

Benie, 
Pleine lune ou croissant.' 



259 



V. 

ECLIPSES. 

In the circle which it describes round the Earth, the Moon 
passes every fifteen days between the Sun and us — at the time 
of new moon — and every fifteen days it is on the opposite 
side of the Sun (the Earth being between it and the Sun) ; 
this is at the time of full moon. Now it happens, sometimes, 
that it passes exactly between us and the Sun, instead of pass- 
ing a little above or below it, as it does in most cases. When 
this occurs, the light of the radiant body naturally finds 
itself stopped, in part or altogether, according as the lunar disk 
hides from us a part or the whole of the solar disk. There 
is, then, an eclipse of the Sun, either partial or total. 

On the other hand, it happens sometimes that the Moon, 
passing behind the Earth, arrives just in the shadow which the 
Earth throws behind it, — as every illuminated object does. 
When it is in this shadow it no longer receives the light of 
the Sun, and, as it only shines by this light, it loses its 
brightness. Its whole disk completely loses its light if it is 
wholly within the cone of the Earth's shadow ; it remains 
half illuminated if, passing by the edge of the cone, it only half 
enters it. In these circumstances there is an eclipse of the 
Moon, either total or partial. Nothing, therefore, is so simple 
as an eclipse. When you have a lamp with a radiant globe 
before you, if you pass your hand before your eyes, you 
momentarily intercept the light which illumines you ; to ycu 
it is an eclipse of the lamp by your hand. The same thing is 



260 Marvels of the Heavens. 

produced when there happens on the Earth an eclipse of the 
Sun hy the Moon. If, now, you turn round, leaving the 
lamp behind you, and again pass your illuminated hand be- 
fore your face, it will be momentarily in the shadow of your 
body. This gives an idea of what happens in an eclipse of 
the Moon, when it passes into the shadow of the Earth. 

If the movements of the Moon were performed exactly in 
a plane, the prolongation of which passed through the Sun 
and Earth, there would be an eclipse of the Sun every new 
moon, and an eclipse of the Moon every full moon. But the 
orbit in which the Moon moves is inclined a little to this 
plane, and oscillates from one side to the other, so that 
eclipses are very variable in their number and magnitude. 
Nevertheless, this variety has its limits. There cannot be 
less than two eclipses a year, and not more than seven. 
When there are only two, they are both eclipses of the Moon. 
These phenomena return nearly in the same order at the end 
of eighteen years and ten days ; a period known to the Greeks 
under the name of the Metonic Cycle, and which the Chinese 
themselves used more than three thousand years ago, to 
predict their eclipses. 

However simple the cause of this phenomenon may be, 
now that it is known — and known causes are always so 
simple, that one asks why they were never known before — 
however easy this explanation appears, for a long time the 
human race was astonished at the passing absence of the 
Sun's light during the day ; for a long time it felt full of fear 
and disquietude before this unexplained wonder. The light 
of day was rapidly diminished, and suddenly disappeared 
without the sky being darkened by any cloud. Darkness 
instead of light, stars shining in the sky, nature seeming 
surprised and astonished ; the combination of these un- 
usual events is more than sufficient to explain the momentary 
terror with which individuals, and, indeed, whole nations, 
allowed themselves to be carried away in these solemn 
moments. By reason of the Moon's rapid motion, a 



Eclipses. 261 

total eclipse never lasts longer than five minutes ; but this 
short period is sufficient to allow a thousand sentiments to 
succeed each other in the terrified mind. The disappearance 
of the light of the Moon, sometimes caused great trouble to 
ignorant minds ; with how much more reason would the dis- 
appearance of the orb of day cause inquietude and fear ! 

' History is full of the examples of fear caused by eclipses,' 
says Francceur, ' and dangers caused through ignorance and 
superstition.' Nicias had resolved to leave Sicily with his 
army ; but, frightened by an eclipse of the Moon, and wishing 
to delay several days, to assure himself if our satellite had 
lost nothing after this event, he missed the opportunity of 
retreat : his army was destroyed, he himself perished, and 
this misfortune commenced the ruin of Athens. 

Often it has been seen that clever men have taken 
advantage of people's terror during eclipses, either of the Sun 
or the Moon, to gain their wishes. Christopher Columbus, 
reduced to sustaining his soldiers on the voluntary gifts of a 
savage and poor nation, and nearly losing this resource and 
perishing with hunger, gave out that he was about to deprive 
the world of the Moon's light. The eclipse began, terror 
seized the Indians, and they returned, bringing to the feet of 
Columbus the accustomed tribute. 

Drusus appeased a sedition in his army by predicting an 
eclipse of the Moon ; and, according to Livy, Sulpitius 
Gallus, in the war of Paulus Emilius against Perseus, used the 
same stratagem. Pericles, Agathocles, king of Syracuse, 
and Dionysius, king of Sicily, nearly fell victims to the 
ignorance of their soldiers. Alexander, near Arbella, was 
obliged to use all his skill to calm the terror that an eclipse 
had cast over his troops. Thus it is that superior men, 
rather than sink under the circumstances which oppress them, 
exert their art to turn them to their profit. 

How many fables were built on the idea that eclipses were 
the effect of Divine wrath, which avenged the iniquities of 
man by depriving him of light ! Sometimes Diana sought 



262 Marvels of the Heavens. 

Endymion in the mountains of Caria ; sometimes the magi- 
cians of Thessaly caused the Moon to fall on the herbs des- 
tined for enchantment. 

Now it is a dragon which devours the Sun, and whole 
nations seek to frighten it away by cries ; or it is supposed 
that God holds the Sun enclosed in a tube, and hides or shows 
us the light by means of a shutter, &c. The progress of 
science has proved the absurdity of these opinions and fears, 
since it is known to be possible to calculate by astronomical 
tables, and to predict a long time beforehand, the instant 
when the wrath of heaven will burst forth. Nevertheless, 
not long ago, this terror caused misfortunes in the army of 
Louis XIV. near Barcelona, at the time of the total eclipse 
of 1708 ; and the device of this monarch, Nee pluribus 
impar, has given rise to injurious allusions. 

Biot gives us, in his Etudes sur VAstronomie Indienne 
et Chinoise, very curious details on the rites which presided 
and which still preside over the observation of the eclipses 
in the Celestial Empire. The Emperor is considered to be the 
son of heaven ; and with this title his government ought to 
present the picture of the immutable order which governs the 
celestial movements. When the two great luminaries — the 
Sun and the Moon — instead of following their own routes 
separately, cross each other's paths, the regularity of the order 
of the heavens appears to be upset ; and the disturbance 
which is there manifested must have its likeness, as well as 
the cause, in the disorders of the government of the Emperor. 
An eclipse of the Sun was then considered as a warning 
given by heaven to the Emperor to examine his faults and 
correct them. When this phenomenon was announced before- 
hand by the appointed astronomer, the Emperor and grandees 
of his court prepared themselves by fasting, and dressing 
themselves in garments of the greatest simplicity. On the 
appointed day the mandarins attended at the palace with 
bows and arrows. When the eclipse commenced, the 
Emperor himself beat on the drum of thunder the 'roulement 



I 



Eclipses. 263 

du, prodige,' to give the alarm ; and at the same time the 
mandarins let fly their arrows towards the sky to aid the 
eclipsed body. Graubil quotes these particulars from the 
ancient Book of Rites, and the principals are announced in 
the Tcheou-li. After this, the discontent that would be 
caused by an eclipse not taking place at the time pre- 
dicted may be imagined ; and likewise if one suddenly 
appeared without being predicted. In the first case, the 
whole ceremonial was found to have been uselessly prepared ; 
and the desperate efforts which, in consequence of the want of 
preparation, were made in the second case, inevitably pro- 
duced a disorderly scene compromising to the imperial 
majesty. Such errors, although so easily made, placed the 
poor astronomers in danger of losing their goods, their office, 
their honour, and sometimes their life. Such a disgrace hap- 
pened in the year 721 of our era : the Emperor Iliouen- 
Tsong sent for a bonze Chinese, called Y-Hang, renowned 
for his knowledge of astronomy. After having shown him- 
self very learned, he had the misfortune to predict two eclipses 
of the Sun, which were ordered to be observed throughoiit the 
whole Empire. But no one saw anywhere on the appointed 
days any trace of an eclipse, although the sky was almost 
everywhere serene. To clear himself he published a work, in 
which he pretended that his calculation was exact, but that 
heaven had changed its rules of movement — doubtless in 
consideration of the high virtues of the Emperor. Thanks to 
his reputation, otherwise deserved — perhaps, also, to his flat- 
tery — he was pardoned. 

. The same ideas on the importance and signification of 
the Moon and Sun which existed with the Chinese more 
than four thousand years ago, remain at the present day, 
and are still powerful, causing the same demands ; but 
they have become less perilous for astronomers, as these 
phenomena are now predicted several years in advance, with a 
mathematical certainty, in the great ephemerides of Europe 
and America, which can easily be procured. M. Stanislas 



264 Marvels of the Heavens. 

Julien found in the Recueil des Lois de Chine the complete 
description of the ceremonies still prescribed and practised at 
the present day on this occasion. The following is a 
specimen : — 

* Every time that an eclipse of the sun occurs, pieces of silk 
are attached to the door of the minister of the rites, called 
I-men ; and in the great hall they place a table to burn the 
perfumes at the top of the tower called Lou-thai' (tower of the 
Dew). The imperial guard places twenty-four drums on 
both sides, inside the door I-men ; the Kiaofan-ste places 
musicians at the base of the tower Lou-thai; he places also 
each magistrate in a part of the tower, at the spot where they 
must bow down to salute. All are turned towards the sun. 
When the president of astronomy has announced that the 
eclipse has begun, all the magistrates, in court garments, arrange 
themselves and stand up. At a given signal they fall on their 
knees, and then the music begins. 

' Each magistrate makes three prostrations and nine bows, 
after which the music stops. When the magistrates of the 
tribunal of the rites have finished offering the perfumes, 
all the others kneel down. The Kiaosse-Koran advances 
with a drum, which he strikes to release the sun. The 
president of the ministry of rites gives three' beats of his 
drum, and then they all strike theirs together. When the 
president of the astronomical office has announced that the 
sun has recovered its circular form, the drums stop. Each 
magistrate kneels three times, and touches his head nine times 
on the earth. The music recommences ; when these ceremonies 
are over, the music stops ; then all the magistrates return each 
to his own side. 

4 When the moon is eclipsed they assemble in the office of 
the Tai'-tch'ang (president of the ceremonies), and they observe 
the same rites for the deliverance of the moon as for the sun.' 



In civilised countries, people no longer fear the arrival of 
eclipses, or think that eternal night is spreading over the 



Eclipses. 265 

Earth. It is known that these are celestial phenomena 
studied and understood like many others, resulting from known 
movements and determined' beforehand. They have entirely lost 
their supernatural character, and belong to a purely physical 
order of things. At the present time astronomers predict 
the eclipses of the Sun and Moon, in the same manner as 
they have discovered past eclipses, by calculation, and have 
thus been able to assign more exactly certain dates in his- 
tory. They know at what time the Moon will pass before 
the Sun, and will rob us of a portion, more or less great, of 
its light ; and the proof is, that I can even now (in 1865) 
give you the times at which all the eclipses which will happen 
to the end of this century will occur. I will not give the 
list, and cover these pages with dates, but to convince you I 
will point out the total eclipses of the Sun, which will be 
visible at the places indicated until the year 1900. They 
are not numerous, as you see. 

December 22, 1870, a total eclipse of the Sun at the 
Azores islands, in the south of Spain and Italy, in Algeria 
and Turkey; August 19, 1889, a total eclipse of the Sun 
at the north-east of Spain, southern Russia, and central 
Asia; August 9, 1896, a total eclipse of the Sun in Siberia, 
Lapland, and Greenland; lastly, May 28, 1900, a total 
eclipse in the United States, Spain, Algeria, and Egypt. 

I do not. doubt but you will be a witness with me at the 
last one, and will thus be in a position to prove the truth 
of this prediction. Unfortunately, not one of them will 
be visible at London ; but if oar inventions with steam and 
electricity continue, and others come to their aid, the Earth 
will soon be but one country, and we shall travel from here 
to Pekin, as we did last century from Paris to St. Cloud. 

In stating that the eclipses of the Sun and Moon are no 
longer a terror to us, I do not mean that they no longer 
make any impression. No; the sudden impressions caused 
by the spectacle of the rarest phenomena of nature are 
independent of our reflection, and the sudden absence of the 



266 



Marvels of the Heavens. 



solar light in the middle of the day, produces in all beings 
an emotion from which they cannot free themselves. The 
narrative of the effect produced by eclipses on man, and 
even on animals, is too interesting not to be presented to you 
in concluding this chapter. I shall choose as narrator an 
eye-witness of the total eclipse of July 1842, whose talent 
is too well known for it to be praised ; I refer to Arago, 
who thus gives us his impressions, enriched with other proofs, 
to which he attributes such high value as to place them 
with his own. (See Popular Astronomy, Vol. III.) 

' Riccioli relates, "that during the total eclipse of 1415 
birds were seen in Bohemia to fall down dead with fright." 
The same is said relative to the eclipse of 1560; some eye- 
witnesses say : " the birds, strange to say, fell to the ground, 
seized with fear." In 1700, at Montpellier, the observer 
said, " bats flitted about as at the beginning of night, fowls 
and pigeons ran precipitately to their roosts. The small 
birds that had been singing in their cages became silent, and 
put their heads under their wings. The animals employed 
in the labours of the field all at once halted." 

* The alarm occasioned among beasts of burden by the 
sudden transition from day to night, is registered also in 
LouvihVs memoir relative to the eclipse of 1715, thus : 
" horses that were labouring or employed on the high roads 
lay down. They refused to advance." 

* Fontenelle relates, that in the year 1654, at the mere 
announcement of a total eclipse, a multitude of the inhabitants 
of Paris hid themselves in deep cellars* 

' Thanks to the progress of science, the total eclipse of 
1842 found the public in a very different disposition from 
that which they manifested during the eclipse of 1654. A 
lively and legitimate curiosity had taken the place of puerile 
fears. The poorest villagers of the Alps and Pyrenees repaired 
in crowds to the places whence the phenomenon could be 
best seen ; they did not doubt, with some rare exceptions, 
that the eclipse had been correctly announced : they regarded 



Eclipses. 267 

it as a natural, regular, and calculable event, about which 
good sense taught them not to be uneasy. 

1 At Perpignan, only persons who were confined to their 
chambers by ill-health remained at home. Early in the 
morning, the terraces, the ramparts of the town, the hills 
outside, whence the sunrise could be best seen, were crowded. 
In the citadel, beside the numerous groups of citizens seated 
on the glacis, we had beneath us all the soldiers collected in 
a vast square to be reviewed. The time for the commence- 
ment of the eclipse was approaching. Nearly twenty thousand 
people, with smoked glasses in their hands, were examining 
the radiant orb projected on the azure sky. We had scarcely, 
though provided with powerful telescopes, begun to perceive 
a slight indentation in the Sun's western limb, when an 
immense shout, the commingling of twenty thousand different 
voices, proved that we had only anticipated by a few seconds 
the naked-eye observation of twenty thousand astronomers 
equipped for the occasion, and exulting in this their first 
trial. A curiosity, animated by the desire of not being out- 
done, seemed to have inspired the natural sight w T ith an un- 
usual degree of penetration and power. 

' Between this time and that which just preceded the 
entire disappearance of the Sun, we did not remark anything 
in the countenances of the spectators deserving of mention. 
But when the Sun, being reduced to a narrow filament, 
began to throw only a faint light on our horizon, a sort of 
uneasiness took possession of the mind, each person felt an 
urgent desire to communicate his emotions to those around 
him. Then followed a hollow moan resembling that of a 
. distant sea after a storm, which increased as the slender 
crescent diminished. At last the crescent disappeared, dark- 
ness instantly followed, and this phase of the eclipse was 
marked by absolute silence, as distinctly as it was by the 
pendulum of the astronomical clock. The magnificence of 
the phenomenon had triumphed over the petulance of youth, 
over the levity affected by some of the spectators as indicative 






268 Marvels of the Heavens. 

of mental superiority, over the noisy indifference usually 
professed by soldiers. A profound calm also reigned through- 
out the air ; the birds had ceased to sing. 

' After a solemn expectation for two minutes, transports of 
joy and frenzied applause spontaneously and unanimously sa- 
luted the return of the solar rays. The sadness produced by 
feelings of an undefinable nature was now succeeded by a 
lively satisfaction, which no one attempted to moderate or 
conceal. For the majority of the public the phenomenon 
had come to a close. The remaining phases of the eclipse 
had no longer any attentive spectators beyond those devoted 
to the study of astronomy. 

' Even those who appeared to be most deeply moved at 
the instant of the sudden disappearance of the Sun, amused 
themselves the very next day, and to my mind unreasonably, 
with recounting the state of alarm into which many country 
people had been thrown. Such people, at any rate, made no 
secret of their feelings. As for myself, I thought it very 
natural that illiterate persons, who had not been informed by 
anybody that an eclipse would occur on the morning of the 
8th of July, should feel great uneasiness on seeing utter 
darkness so instantly follow daylight. Let it not be sup- 
posed that the idea of a convulsion of nature, the idea that 
the world was immediately coming to an end, is what would 
most generally disturb the minds of a rude and simple 
people. When I questioned them as to the true cause of 
the despair which had taken possession of them on the 
8th of July, they immediately replied : ' The sky was serene, 
and yet the light of day diminished, and every object grew 
shadowy, and then all at once we were in the dark. We 
thought that we had become blind.' 

We extract from the Journal des Basses Alpes, of 
July 9, 1842, the following anecdote, which seems to me to 
be worthy of preservation : — 

'A poor child in the commune of Sieges was watching his 



Eclipses. 269 

flock, entirely ignorant of the approaching event ; he became 
uneasy on seeing the sun gradually become dark, for no cloud, 
no vapour, accounted for the change. When the light suddenly 
disappeared, the poor child, overcome with fright, took to 
crying and calling for help ! His tears were still falling when 
the sun again sent forth a ray of light. Reassured by the com- 
mencement, the boy crossed his hands, exclaiming in the patois 
of the district, " beautiful sun ! " ' (0 beou souleou !) 

Arago afterwards points out several curious facts on the 
influence of eclipses on animals : — 

. ' An inhabitant of Perpignan purposely kept his dog with- 
out food from the evening of the 7th July. The next morning, 
at the instant when the total eclipse was gsoing to take place, 
he threw a piece of bread to the poor animal, which had begun 
to devour it when the sun's last rays disappeared. Instantly 
the dog let the bread fall, nor did he take it up again for two 
minutes, that is, until the total obscuration had ceased, and then 
he ate it with great avidity. 

' Another dog sought refuge between his master's legs, 
when the sun became eclipsed. In a farm, some fowls, at the 
instant of total obscuration, suddenly left the millet that had just 
been given them, and sought refuge in a stable. At the Mas 
de l'Asparron, the fowls being far from any habitation, went 
and grouped themselves under a horse's belly. A hen attended 
by a brood of chickens hastily called them to her, and covered 
them with her wings. Some ducks which were swimming 
about in a pool at the instant of the sun's disappearance, did 
not attempt to regain the farm which they had left two hours 
before, but huddled together in a corner. 

At La Tour, chief town of the canton, in the Eastern Pyrenees, 
an inhabitant had three hen linnets. On the 8th of July, very 
early in the morning, on hanging the cage up in the drawing- 
room, he remarked that the birds looked very well ; after the 
eclipse one of them was found to be dead. Are we to suppose 
that the linnet in its fright hit itself violently against the bars 
of the cage ? Some facts observed elsewhere tended to render 
this supposition probable.' 



270 Marvels of the Heavens. 

Even insects did not escape a like impression. 

M. Lentherie, professor at Montpellier, also gave some 
details concerning the effects of the total eclipse upon several 
species of animals. The bats, thinking night had come, 
quitted their retreats ; an owl came out of St. Peter's tower, 
and flew across the square of the Peyrou ; the swallows 
disappeared ; the fowls went to roost ; some oxen w ho w r ere 
feeding freely near the church of Maguelonne arranged 
themselves in a circle with their hacks towards each other, 
and their horns outwards, as if to resist an attack. 

Some observers at Cremona say, that an immense number 
of birds fell to the ground; and M. Zamboni, the author of 
the Piles Seches, is quoted as having seen a sparrow fall 
beside him. M. Piola, who was under a tree near Lodi, 
remarked that the birds ceased to sing during the moments 
of darkness, but none fell. 

In a narrative that Father Zantedeschi addressed to 
Arago from Venice he Eaid that, 

'Some birds wishing to escape and not being able to see, 
knocked up against the chimneys and the walls with such 
violence as to fall down stupefied on the roofs, in the streets, 
and into the lagoons. Amongst the birds that met with these 
accidents may be specified some swallows and a pigeon Other 
swallows were seized in the streets, their fright having scarcely 
left them the power of fluttering. 

4 Some bees which had left their hive in great numbers at 
sunrise, returned to it even before the instant of total darkness ; 
and they waited till the sun had entirely resumed its brightness 
before they ventured forth again.' 

These narratives give a sufficient idea of the effect pro- 
duced by unusual phenomena on the faculties of men and 
animals. The necessity of order is so deeply attached to 
creation, that an appearance of trouble throws us out of our 
normal security, and fills us with fear. 



BOOK V. 



273 



THE PLURALITY OF INHABITED WORLDS. 

1 Yet not to earth's contracted span 
Thy goodness let me bound, 
Or think Thee, Lord, alone of man, 
"When thousand worlds are round.' 

Pope's Universal Prayer. 

The astronomical truths which have been the subject of 
our conversation, doubtless prove the high character of the 
human mind which aspires to them, and which, scrutinising 
the organised laws of the universe, has been able to determine 
the causes which regulate the harmony of the cosmos 
and secure its perpetuity. No doubt, it is good for man, this 
spiritual atom inhabiting a material atom, to have penetrated 
the mysteries of creation, and to have been exalted to the 
knowledge of these sublime heights, the contemplation of which 
alone overwhelms and annihilates him. But if the universe 
remains to man only a great material mechanism moved by 
physical forces, if nature is nothing in his eyes but a gigantic 
laboratory, where the elements are mingled blindly under 
the most various and casual forms ; in a word, if this admirable 
and magnificent science of the heavens confines the efforts of 
the human mind eternally to the geometry of the heavenly 
bodies, the science would never attain its real end, and it 
would. stop at the moment of reaping the fruit of its immense 
labours. It would remain supremely incomplete if the 
universe were never anything to it but an assemblage of inert 
bodies floating in space under the action of material forces. 



L 



274 Marvels of the Heavens. 

The philosopher must go further. He must not confine 
himself to seeing under a more or less distinct form the great 
body of nature. But, stretching forth the hand, he must 
feel, under the material envelope, the life which circulates in 
great waves. God's empire is not the empire of death ; it is 
the empire of life. 

We live on a world which is no exception among the 
heavenly bodies, and which has not received the least privi- 
lege. It is the third of the planets which revolve round the 
Sun and one of the smallest amongst them ; without going 
beyond our system, other planets are much more important 
than it ; Jupiter, for instance, is 1414 times greater, and 
Saturn 734 times. Whilst it appears to us the most im- 
portant of the universe, it is in reality lost in the immensity 
of the worlds which people the heavens, and the whole crea- 
tion does not guess at its existence. 

Of the planets of our own system there are only four, the 
inhabitants of which can know that the Earth exists ; these are, 
Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter ; and even to this last one 
it is most of the time invisible in the solar aureola. Now, 
whilst the Earth is thus lost amidst worlds more important than 
itself, the other worlds are in the same conditions of habita- 
bility as those that we observe on the Earth. On these 
planets as on our own, the generous rays of the Sun 
pour forth heat and light ; on them, as here, years, months, 
and days, succeed each other, drawing with them the seasons 
which, from time to time, support the conditions of existence ; 
on them as here, a transparent atmosphere envelopes the 
inhabited surface with a protecting climate, gives rise to 
meteoric movements and developes those ravishing beauties 
which celebrate sunrise and sunset. On them as here, va- 
porous clouds rise from the ocean with the deep waves, and 
spreading themselves under the heaven, carry dew to the 
parched-up regions. This great movement of life which cir- 
culates over the Earth, is not confined to this little planet ; 
the same causes develope elsewhere the same effects, and on 



The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds. 275 

many among these strange worlds, far from noticing the 
absence of the riches with which the Earth is endowed, an 
abundance of wealth of which our abode only possesses the 
first-fruits is observed. By the side of these bodies, the 
Earth is essentially an inferior world in many respects ; from 
the unsatisfactory conditions of geological stability of which 
the terrestrial spheroid reminds us, its surface being only 
a thin pellicle, to the fatal laws which govern life on this 
Earth where death reigns supreme. 

If, on the one hand, the other worlds have conditions of 
habitability quite as powerful, if not more so, as the terrestrial 
conditions ; on the other hand, the Earth, considered in itself, 
appears to us like an overflowing cup whence life issues on 
all sides. It seems that to create is so necessary to the order 
of nature, that the smallest piece of matter of suitable pro- 
perties does not exist without serving as an abode of living 
beings. Whilst the telescope discovered in the heavens 
fresh fields for creation, the microscope showed us below 
the range of visibility the field of invisible life, and that, 
not content with spreading life everywhere where there is 
matter to receive it, from the primitive period when this 
globe had scarcely left its fiery cradle, to our days, nature 
still heaps up existence, to the detriment of existence itself. 

Leaves of plants are fields of microscopical flocks of which 
certain species, although invisible to the naked eye, are real 
elephants beside other beings, whose extreme diminutiveness 
has not prevented an admirable system of organisation for 
the carrying on of their ephemeral life. Animals themselves 
serve as an abode to races of parasites which, in their turn, 
are themselves the abode of parasites still smaller. Under 
another aspect the infinity of life presents a correlative 
character in its diversity. Its force is so powerful that no 
element appears capable of struggling advantageously against 
it, and tending to spread itself in every place, nothing can 
stop its action. From the high regions of the air, where 
the winds carry the germs, to the oceanic depths, where they 



276 Marvels of the Heavens. 

undergo a pressure equal to several hundred atmospheres, and 
where the most complete night extends its eternal sovereignty ; 
from the burning climate of the equator and the hot sources 
of volcanic regions to the icy regions and the solid seas of 
the polar circle, life extends its empire like an immense net- 
work, surrounding the whole Earth, amusing itself with all 
obstacles, and passing over all abysses, so that there is not 
in the world any district which can pretend to be beyond its 
absolute sovereignty. 

It is by studies founded on this double consideration, 
the insignificance of the Earth in creation, and the abund- 
ance of life on its surface, that we are able to raise ourselves 
to the first real principles on which the demonstration of the 
universal habitation of the heavenly bodies must be fixed. 
For a long time, man could confine himself to the study of 
phenomena ; for a long time, he must still keep to the direct 
and simple observation of physical appearances, in order 
that science may acquire the precision which constitutes its 
value. But now this entrance of truth can be passed, and 
thought, outstrippping matter, may rise to the idea of intel- 
lectual things. In the bosom of these distant worlds, it 
pees universal life plunging its immense roots ; and at their 
surface, it sees this life spreading itself, and intelligence estab- 
lishing its throne. 

Founded on the astronomical basis, the only possible 
foundation, researches made in the domain of the physical 
sciences, from celestial mechanism to biology, and in that 
of the philosophical sciences from ontology to morals, the 
old idea of the plurality of worlds has risen to the rank of a 
doctrine. The evidence of this truth has been revealed to the 
eyes of all those who are impartially and entirely given up 
to the study of nature. It does not come within the bounds 
of this discourse to enter fully on this philosophical aspect of 
creation ; but if I consider it in itself as the logical con- 
clusion of astronomical studies, I owe it to my readers at 
least to offer them as a modest conclusion of the narratives 



The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds. 277 

which they have followed up to this time, the principal results 
to which we have arrived on this great and beautiful question 
of the existence of life on the surface of the heavenly bodies 

In the first place, the following is the first consideration 
established on the astronomical character of the world and 
its history : ' If the reader follow the philosophical march 
of modern astronomy, he will discover that from the moment 
when the movement of the Earth and the volume of the Sun 
were known, astronomers and philosophers found it strange 
that a body so magnificent was solely employed to light up 
and warm a little imperceptible world, arranged in company 
with many others under a supreme rule. The absurdity of 
such an opinion was still more striking, when they found 
that Venus was a planet of the same dimensions as the Earth, 
with mountains and plains, seasons and years, days and 
nights, similar to our own ; the analogy was extended to the 
conclusion, that these two w T orlds, similar in their formation, 
were also similar in their role in the universe ; if Venus was 
without population, the Earth ought to be equally so ; and 
conversely, if the Earth was peopled Venus must be so 
also. But afterwards, when the gigantic worlds of Jupiter 
and Saturn were observed, surrounded with their splendid 
retinues, they were compelled to refuse living beings to the pre- 
ceding little planets, if they did not equally endow these, and 
moreover give to Jupiter and Saturn men much superior to 
those of Venus and the Earth. And indeed, is it not evident 
that the absurdity of the immovability of the Earth has 
been perpetuated, a thousand times more extravagantly in this 
ill-conceived final causation, the object of which is to place 
our globe in the first rank of celestial bodies ? Is it not 
evident that this world has been thrown without any dis- 
tinction into the planetary cluster, and that it is not better 
adapted than the others to be the exclusive seat of life and 
intelligence? How little founded is the sentiment which 
animates us when we fancy that the universe is created for 
us, poor beings lost on a world, and that if we should dis- 



278 Marvels of the Heavens. 

appear from the scene, this vast universe would be marred, 
like an assemblage of inert bodies, and deprived of light ! 
If on the morrow not one of us was to awake, and if the 
night which, in each diurnal period enwraps the world, for 
ever sealed the closed eyelids of all living beings, is it to be 
believed that henceforth the Sun would no longer pour out its 
light and heat, and that the powers of nature would cease 
their eternal movements ? No ; these distant worlds that we 
have just reviewed, would continue the cycle of their exist- 
ence, rocked on the permanent forces of gravitation, and 
bathed in the luminous aureola that the orb of day produces 
round its brilliant focus. The Earth that we inhabit is only 
one of the smallest bodies grouped round this focus, and its 
degree of habitation has nothing which distinguishes it 
amidst its companions. For an instant place yourself at a 
distance in space whence you can embrace the whole solar 
system, and suppose that the planet in which you saw light 
is unknown to you. For to give yourself freely to the 
present study you must no longer consider the Earth as 
your country, or prefer it to other abodes ; and then 
contemplate without pretension and with an ultra-terrestrial 
eye the planetary worlds which circulate round the focus of 
our life ! If you suspect the phenomena of existence, if you 
imagine that certain planets are inhabited, if you are taught 
that life has chosen certain worlds in which to spread the 
germs of its productions, do you intend to people this small 
globe of the Earth, before having established in superior 
worlds the wonders of living creation ? Or if you have the 
intention of settling yourself on a body whence you can 
embrace the splendour of the heavens, and on which you can 
enjoy the benefits of a rich and fertile nature, shall you 
choose as an abode this mean Earth which is eclipsed by so 
many resplendent spheres ? In reply, reader, and it is the 
least strong and most rigorous conclusion that we can draw 
from the preceding considerations, let us agree that * the 
Earth has no marked pre-eminence in the solar system 



The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds. 279 

to entitle it to be the only inhabited world, and that, astro- 
nomically speaking, the other planets are arranged as well 
as it is as abodes of life.' 

A second consideration, founded on the varieties of living 
beings on the surface of the terrestrial globe, on the infinite 
power of nature, that no obstacle has ever stopped, and on 
the eloquent spectacle of the infinity of life itself in the 
terrestrial world, conducts the argument into a new order of 
ideas : ' Nature knows the secret of all things, puts into 
action the most feeble as well as the most powerful forces, 
renders all its creations answerable, and constitutes beings 
according to the worlds and ages, without the one or the 
other being able to place any obstacle in the way of the 
manifestation of its power. Hence it follows, that the habitn- 
bility and habitation of the planets are a necessary complement 
to their existence, and that of all the conditions enumerated, 
not one can stop the manifestation of life on each of these 
worlds. But let us add another observation which will 
complete the preceding ; let us think for an instant of our 
forced ignorance in this little isle of the great archipelago 
where destiny has bound us, and of the difficulty we expe- 
rience in searching into the secrets and power of nature. 
Let us prove that, on the one hand, we do not know all the 
causes which have been able to influence, and which still 
influence the manifestation of life, its support and propagation 
on the surface of the Earth ; and that, on the other hand, 
we are still far from knowing all the principles of existence 
which propagate in other worlds very dissimilar creations. 
Scarcely have we penetrated those which regulate the daily 
functions of life; scarcely have we been able to study the 
physical properties of the media, the action of light and 
electricity, the effects of heat and magnetism. There exist 
others which go on constantly under our eyes, and which 
have not yet been studied nor even discovered. How vain 
then would it be to wish to oppose to the possibility of planetary 
existences the superficial and narrow principles of what we 



280 Marvels of the Heavens. 

call our sciences ? What cause would be able to struggle 
with advantage against the effective power of nature, and to 
place obstacles to the existence of beings on all these mag- 
nificent globes which revolve round the Sun ! What extrava- 
gance to regard the little world where we first saw light, as 
the only temple, or as the model of nature ! ' 

Impressed with the value of the providential design of 
creation, these considerations become more imperious still. 
* That our planet was made to be lived in, is incontestable, 
not only because the beings which people it are here under 
our eyes, but again because the connexion which exists 
between these beings and the regions in which they live 
brings the inevitable conclusion that the idea of habitation 
is immediately connected with the idea of habitability. Now 
this fact is an argument in our favour ; for. unless we consider 
the creative power as illogical, or as inconsistent with its real 
manner of acting, it must be understood tha*. the habit- 
ability of the planets imperiously demands their habitation. 
To what end have they received years, seasons, months, days ; 
and why does not life come forth on the surface of these 
worlds which enjoy, like ours, the benerits of nature, and 
which receive, like ours, the rays of the same sun ? Why 
these snows of Mars, which melt each spring, and descend to 
water its continents? Why these clouds of Ju;.iter, which 
spiead shade and freshness over its immense plains ? Why 
this atmosphere of Venus, which bathes its valleys and 
mountains ? O splendid worlds which float afar from us in 
the heavens ! Would it be possible that cold sterility was 
ever the immutable sovereign of yonder desolate regions 9 
Would it be possible that this magnificence, which seems to 
be your appanage, was given to solitary and bare worlds, 
where the lonely rocks eternally regard each other in sullen 
silence ? Fearful spectacle in its immense immutability ; and 
more incomprehensible than if Death had passed over the 
Earth in fury, and with a single stroke mowed down the 
living population which enlightens its surface, thus enveloping 



The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds. 281 

in one ruin all the children of life, and leaving it to roll in 
space like a corpse in an eternal tomb !' 

Thus it is that, under whatever aspect we regard crea- 
tion, the doctrine of the plurality of inhabited worlds is 
formed and presented as the only explanation of the final 
end — as the justification of the existence of material forms — 
as the crowning of astronomical truths. The summary con- 
clusions which we have just quoted are established, logically 
and without difficulty, by observed facts ; and when, having 
contemplated the universe under its different aspects, the 
mind is astonished at not having sooner conceived this 
striking truth, it feels within itself that the demonstration 
of such evidence is no longer necessary, and that it ought 
to accept it, even with no other reasons in its favour than 
the condition of the terrestrial atom compared with the rest 
of the immense universe. Humbled by this spectacle, one 
can but proclaim the luminous truth in a transport, dis- 
daining all researches. 

1 Ah ! if our sight was piercing enough to discover, where 
we only see brilliant points on the black background of the 
sky, resplendent suns which revolve in the expanse, and the 
inhabited worlds which follow them in their path, if it were 
given to us to embrace in a general coup d'ozil these myriads of 
fire-based systems ; and if, advancing with the velocity of light, 
we could traverse from century to century, this unlimited num- 
ber of suns and spheres, without ever meeting any limit to 
this prodigious immensity where God brings forth worlds and 
beings ; looking behind, but no longer knowing in what part of 
the infinite to find this grain of dust called the Earth, we should 
stop fascinated and confounded by such a spectacle, and uniting 
our voice to the concert of universal nature, we should say from 
the depths of our soul : Almighty God ! how senseless we were 
to believe that there was nothing beyond the Earth, and that, 
our abode alone possessed the privilege of reflecting Thy great- 
ness and power ! ' * 

* Caraille Flammarion, La Pluralite des Mondes Halites, t. ii. iii. and iv. 



282 Marvels of the Heavens. 



II. 

THE CONTEMPLATION OF THE HEAVENS. 

How beautiful and worthy of the human mind is this 
contemplation of the visible splendours of creation! How 
much superior are these studies to the common preoccupations 
which occupy our days and pass away our years ! How 
they elevate the soul towards real greatness ! In the artificial 
world that we have formed for ourselves by our citizen 
habits, we have become so strange to nature that when we 
return to it we appear to enter into a new world. We have 
lost belief in its value, and thus deprive ourselves of the 
purest joys. By freeing ourselves from stormy life, by re- 
turning to peace we undergo a hitherto unknown impression, 
as if the sphere of harmony into which we enter had always 
remained far from the labours of our minds. 

Studies of nature possess this precious characteristic, that 
being applied to truth, they recall us to our origin, to our 
material cradle. Worldly life is a real exile for the soul. 
Imperceptibly we get accustomed to content ourselves with 
appearances, no longer to seek the bottom and the substance 
of things. Imperceptibly we lose our value and greatness, 
when rocked on the surface of this unfathomable ocean on 
which float human barks. The objects which surround us 
alone attract our attention and we forget the past like the 
future. But there are hours of solitude when the soul, 
returning to itself, feels the emptiness of all these appearances, 
when it discovers how little they can satisfy it, when it 
anxiously searches and returns with love to real greatness 



The Contemplation of the Heavens. 283 

alone capable of giving firm ground for its repose, instead 
of the fluctuations which have agitated it. Then the soul 
has home sickness ; it demands the truth ; it wishes for the 
beautiful, and bids adieu to transient affections. If it is 
allowed at these hours of reflection to contemplate the 
beauties of nature ; to admire and understand the wonders 
of creation ; entirely giving itself up to the contemplation 
which captivates it, abandoning itself to the charm of the 
splendours studied, it devotes itself unreservedly to the 
spectacle which absorbs it, forgetful of the false joys of 
the Earth, and eager after the true and profound ones 
which Nature, that young mother whose age is unchangeable, 
pours into the souls of the children who cherish her. The 
beauties of the heavens will captivate it with their charms, it 
will demand that such a contemplation shall never cease, that 
the night shall reveal to it wonder upon wonder, and that it 
may be permitted not to leave that scene before its admiration 
is satisfied ; as in the sweetest hours of life it will be 
induced to sing with the poet : — 

* temps, suspends ton vol ! et vous, heures propices, 
Suspendez votre cours ! 
Laissez-moi savourer les rapides delices 
Des plus beaux de nos jours ! 

1 Mais je demande en vain quelques moments encore, 
Le temps m'echappe et fuit ; 
Je dis a cette nuit : Sois plus lente ; et Taurore 
Va dissiper la nuit.* 

When we give our minds up to these high and magnificent 
studies we soon feel the great harmony, the admirable unity 
in which all things are bound together ; we feel that all creation 
is one, that we form a constituent part of it, and that an 
immense life, scarcely guessed at, envelopes us. Then all 
phenomena take their place in the universal concert. 

The golden star which shines in the depths of the 



284 Marvels of the Heavens. 

heavens and the little grain of crystallized sand which r. fleets 
the solar ray, unite their light ; the majestic sphere which 
revolves harmoniously in its gigantic orbit and the little 
bird which sings under the leaves; the immense nebula 
which arranges its system of suns in the vast expanse, and 
the beehive which receives the rhomboids of a republic in 
eternal concord ; gravitation which bears up in space 
these formidable globes and these systems of worlds, and the 
humble zephyr which wafts beloved perfumes from one 
flower to another; great phenomena and imperceptible 
actions, unite with each other in the general movement, and 
the infinitely great and the infinitely small embrace each 
other. For the universe is the action of a single thought. 

No human speech, no work formed by the hand of man, 
can compete with the harmony of nature or the w T ork of 
creation. Compare for an instant the most admirable chef- 
d'oeuvre among the wonders of art with the most simple 
among the productions of nature. As was said long ago, 
compare the richness of regal ornaments, the oriental tissue 
of Solomon's garments when in all his glory, the golden 
plates of his temple, the mosaics of his palaces, to the 
whiteness of the lilies, the bloom of the roses, and seek if 
the comparison can be thought of for an instant. The great 
characteristic which distinguishes these works, is that in the 
one, a restricted power marks the limits of its skill, whilst in 
the other the impress of an infinite power always remains 
Magnify the power of our senses, take that astonishing lens 
which raises up giants where the most insignificant beings 
remained invisible; at its focus, the finest tissue, the most 
delicate work of human art is changed into a shapeless and 
coarse object ; on the other hand, the most modest tissue 
formed by the hands of nature reveals hidden riches in pro- 
portion as the magnifying power increases. 

Try now to compare our most wonderful instruments, 
from our formidable machinery which holds captive those 
powerful forces of which man has made himself master, to those 



The Contemplation of the Heavens, 285 

exact instruments so elegant, so sensitive, with the untamable 
forces with which matter is animated, or with those admirable 
and precise laws which rule in an incomprehensible perfection 
the harmonious movements of the starry rpheres at the 
concert of the heavens, and say how much art is surpassed by 
nature. 

And the work of nature is charming in the infinitely 
small as in the infinitely great. The sublime spectacles 
which the contemplation of the heavens unveils to us are 
doubtless the most striking, the magnificence of which 
imposes itself most impressively on our astonished mind; 
but if we examined little things our imagination will 
remain confounded before them as before the greatest. On 
the poor little white butterfly which, born yesterday, will 
be in dust before to-morrow has passed, the analysing eye 
of the microscope will show magnificent feathers of snowy 
white or dead yellow, symmetrically arranged, with as much 
care as those of the eagle intended to fly to the heavens ; 
nevertheless to the naked eye there is nothing but an im- 
palpable dust, which adheres to the fingers. On its head 
you may count twenty thousand eyes. If the finer drops 
of dew suspended at sunrise to the leaves of the lower 
branches, fall at the touch of a passing bird, you will 
see painted on this fine rain a rainbow not less rich 
than the gigantic arch uplifted at the end of a storm in 
the regions of the atmosphere; charming little rainbow, 
formed for a life of a few tenths of a second and disappearing 
as it was born. Examine these humble wild flowers with 
coloured petals ; emeralds and rubies succeed each other, gold 
and sapphire intermingle their delicate tints ; it is in 
miniature the same magnificence of colours as shines in the 
double stars. We could continue without limit these com- 
parisons which prove to us, in all directions, the infinity of 
the creative power. 

Nevertheless we do not think of it, and we pass in- 
differently by these wonders. If the night was deprived 



286 Marvels of the Heavens. 

of stars, said a philosopher, and there was only one place 
on the Earth whence the constellations and bodies would be 
visible, the pilgrimage- to this place would never cease, and 
each would wish to admire these wonders. But that which 
daily surrounds us loses its value, custom destroys attention 
and we forget nature for pleasures certainly infinitely less 
worthy of our thoughts. If sometimes we allow ourselves to 
be exalted by these wonders of the science of the heavens, we 
quickly return to the things of the world forgetting our 
grand questions. The Earth has the gift of captivating us 
so strongly that we willingly forget the heavens for it. How 
many persons have repeated in prose this ode of Lebrun's to 
a fellow -astronomer : 

* Ami, laisse rouler la Terre 
Autour de l'astre des saisons : 
Bis et bois : j'aime mieux ce verre 
Que l'astrolabe des Newtons. 
Qu'importe qu'au centre du monde 
Le soleil fixe ses destins, 
Pourvu que sa chaleur feconde 
Murisse toujours nos raisins ? 
Tout son plaisir, toute sa gloire, 
C'est de colorer ce doux jus ; 
Le ndtre, ami, c'est de le boire : 
Boire, aimer, que faut-il de plus ? 
Crois-moi, sous l'ombre de la treille 
Goute le charme des beaux jours : 
Chaque heure en fuyant nous conseille 
De ravir des moments si courts.' 



Doubtless these are charming thoughts ; but ought one to 
live for them, and does not the soul sometimes feel the over- 
whelming desire to rise above the ordinary functions of life ? 
That all the pleasures and all the glory of the Sun 
should go to colour the grape is contestable'; but that 



The Contemplation of the Heavens. 287 

all our pleasure and glory should be in drinking its juice is 
a little too material. Let us then assign its part to each 
thing, let us embellish existence with the flowers of contem- 
plation, and let our aim be to render ourselves more and more 
heavenly. 

Let us consider, dream, and think sometimes of the beau- 
tiful in nature. Let us allow ourselves to be drawn away by 
these delicious reveries which carry us from earthly tumults 
to calm and silence. Let us ascend to that limpid source, 
whence descend all consolation in sadness, all coolness after the 
fatigue of the day, all peace in disquietude. When our 
lips are parched by the winds of the world, let us moisten 
them at this clear spring, let us ask a kiss from the lips 
of Nature, — and may this pure aspiration keep us from 
poisoned cups. 

* Heures de poesie, heures trop tot passees 
Que l'etoile du soir m'apporte avec la nuit, 
Oh ! ne me quittez pas sans porter quelque fruit, 
Sans eveiller en moi quelques nobles pense*es.' ° 

The fulness and height of man's happiness, said 
Seneca, is to tread under foot all bad desires, to dive 
into the heavens, and to penetrate the most hidden folds 
of nature. With what satisfaction, when our thought has 
taken flight from the midst of these does it mock at the 
mosaics of our riches, and our earth with all its gold ! To 
disdain these porticoes — these brilliant platforms of ivory — 
these rivers running through palaces — one must have em- 
braced the circle of the universe, and looked from on high 
on this narrow globe, a great portion of which is sub- 
merged, whilst that which is above water is either savage, 
or torrid, or frozen. This is, then, says the sage, the 
spot divided among many nations with fire and sword! 

* Klopstock, by J. J. Ampere. 



288 Marvels of the Heavens. 

Here are our mortals, with their absurd frontiers! If 
the human intelligence were given to ants, would they not 
also divide a square of garden into several provinces ? 
When thou shalt have risen to the really grand objects of 
which I speak, each time that thou shalt see armies march- 
ing with colours raised, and as if it were a serious matter, 
horsemen sometimes flying unguardedly, or retreating on 
their supports, thou wilt be tempted to say, ' These are 
evolutions of ants — great movements in little space.' Oh ! 
how little is man if he does not rise above human things ! 
There are regions above, without limits, which our soul is 
admitted to possess, provided that it carries away with it the 
least possible that is material, and that, being purified from 
all stain, and free from fetters, it is worthy of flying thither. 
As soon as it reaches there, it is nourished and developed : it 
is as if delivered from its irons, and returned to its source ; it 
recognises itself to be a daughter of heaven from the delight 
it takes in celestial things ; it enters there not as a stranger, 
but as if at home. An eager spectator, there is nothing but it 
sounds and interrogates. Ah ! who could hinder it ? Does it 
not know that all this is its domain ? Man does not live on 
bread alone — he requires thought. It is on rising to these 
noble contemplations that he becomes worthy of his rank ; it 
is by occupying his mind with these beautiful and fertile sub- 
jects of study that his countenance will preserve the divine 
expression of his destiny, and will shine more and more. Let 
us not forget the teachings of the night, but return some- 
times to meditate under its silent gloom. Instead of a pass- 
ing reverie, now that we have partly lifted the veil which hid 
the celestial mysteries from us, our minds will have an object 
better understood ; we shall understand what we admire, and 
we shall better appreciate these distant creations. These 
nocturnal hours will have a double value in our eyes, as they 
will place us henceforth in communication with worlds whose 
natures are no longer unknown to us. And it is with 
greater intimacy that we shall address that salutation to 



The Contemplation of the Heavens, 289 

the Night, with which we opened our interview with the 
heavens : — 

* Nuit ! que ton Ian gage est sublime pour moi, 
Lorsque seul et pensif, aussi calme que toi, 
Contemplant les soleils dont ta robe est paree, 
J'erre et medite en paix sous ton ombre sacree I ' 



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